Forex rate-rigging scandal 2015 probe: Foreign exchange crisis engulfs London
City foreign exchange desks were thrown into turmoil yesterday as top traders at Goldman Sachs and Citi resigned, while Deutsche Bank fired three New York traders.
Banks are being lent on hard by regulators over alleged FX benchmark manipulation, adding to chaos in the sector. The New York Department for Financial Services (DFS) has become the third global regulator to ask banks for information on the market, joining the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Hong Kong Markets Authority.
The DFS is thought to have asked banks including Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered for information.
Deutsche fired traders Robert Wallden, Christopher Fahy and Diego Moraiz in New York.
“Deutsche Bank has received requests for information from regulatory authorities that are investigating trading in the foreign exchange market,” the bank said in a statement. “The bank is cooperating with those investigations, and will take disciplinary action with regards to individuals if merited.”
Meanwhile Goldman Sachs’ global head of G10 spot and forward trading Steven Cho and co-head of macro trading for Asia ex-Japan Leland Lim both retired from the firm, which those close to the pair say is not related to the FX probes.
And Citi’s head of FX and local markets Anil Prasad also announced plans to leave in March, according to an internal memo seen by City A.M.
“Anil’s decision is his own and entirely unrelated to the on-going FX investigations,” said a person familiar with the matter.
JP Morgan has also suffered, last year suspending its head of FX in London. Richard Usher was at RBS at the time of the alleged wrongdoing.
Deutsche Bank previously suspended its head of emerging markets FX trading, while Barclays last year suspended six of its traders.
The latest exodus came just 24 hours after FCA boss Martin Wheatley told MPs he had received information from 10 banks, but does not expect the investigation to be completed until next year. “These allegations are every bit as bad as they have been with Libor,” Wheatley told MPs.
The focus is again on internal messages, emails and chatroom records that traders sent to those in their own institutions and at other banks and brokers. “I’ve heard lot more noise on this from regulators, but the actions are being taken by banks, doing their own investigations,” said a source at a major investment bank. “We’ve been asked to look into chat messages and other records and take action first.”
One factor increasing the length of the probe is the amount of data to process. “If there has been collusion, these communications would provide the proof, but it will take a lot of time,” said another industry insider. “This means several years’ worth of emails and chats. You have to look at them all, eliminate the banter then call in experts on those that look suspicious.”