The Financial Conduct Authority has imposed fines totalling £1,114,918,000 on five banks for failing to control business practices in their foreign exchange operations. Traders from different banks colluded to manipulate currency rates in order to make profits for themselves. The five banks are Citibank, HSBC Bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS. Barclays Bank is still being investigated for similar failings and has not yet reached a settlement with the FCA. The FCA found that between 1 January 2008 and 15 October 2013, ineffective controls at the banks allowed traders to put their banks’ interests ahead of those of their clients, other market participants and the wider UK financial system and that the banks failed to manage obvious risks around confidentiality, conflicts of interest and trading conduct. The foreign exchange market is one of the largest and most liquid markets in the world with a daily average turnover of $5.3 trillion, 40% of which takes place in London.
