Switzerland concluded its investigation into illegal agreements in forex trading and issued fines of about 90 million Swiss francs. UBS emerged unscathed because it had blown the whistle on the activities.
The traders of several large international banks colluded in two separate cartels, coordinating their trading in G10 currencies.
The «Three way banana split» cartel included traders from Barclays, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and UBS, and was active from 2007 through 2013. In the «Essex express» cartel traders from Barclays, MUFG Bank, RBS and UBS participated (2009 through 2012).
Chatroom Coordination
The traders used chatrooms to coordinate their forex activities, said the Swiss Competition Commission on Thursday. The banks named agreed to refrain from such activities in future and received fines worth some 90 million Swiss francs ($90 million).
UBS Whistleblower
Some of the banks had contacted the commission and received lower fines in recognition. UBS wont have to pay any fine because it set the case in motion with its report to the commission.
The Competition Commission fined Barclays 27 million francs, Citigroup 28.5 million francs, J.P. Morgan 9.5 million francs, MUFG Bank 1.5 million francs and RBS 22.5 million francs.
The commission is pursuing with its probe into Credit Suisse, while it closed the file on Julius Baer and Zuercher Kantonalbank and thereby exonerated the two.
