How much have RBS, Barclays, JP Morgan, Citigroup, UBS and HSBC set aside for potential costs from the FCA forex market rigging probe?
RBS is the latest bank to set aside a hefty pot of cash for the potential costs of settling with the City regulator after a major investigation into the manipulation of forex markets.
The bank revealed that figure stands at £400m in its third quarter results today. It’s a large sum, but by no means the largest amount from the six banks in talks with the Financial Conduct Authority.
Just yesterday, Barclays revealed its own figure of £500m, while Citigroup earlier earmarked £600m and JP Morgan just over that.
While UBS added an additional £1.18bn in the latest quarter to its war chest of potential legal costs, it did not specify what these costs were in relation to. The Swiss bank did reveal it was in talks with the US department of Justice to resolve forex litigation.
It’s total war chest for potential litigation costs stands at around £2.3bn, some of which is likely to be earmarked for a potential settlement with UK or US regulators, or both, by the end of the year analysts expect.
This brings the total amount earmarked so far to a potential £3.68bn. However, that figure is likely to rise.
HSBC, the sixth British bank with which the FCA has been talking, has yet to earmark potential costs, but is due to report its latest earnings on Monday.