16th Oct 2013 16:37
LONDON (Alliance News) - The Financial Regulation Authority Wednesday confirmed it is working with other authorities in an investigation of a number of firms relating to trading on the foreign exchange market.
Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, which is 81% owned by the UK Government, is one of the firms under investigation, the bank confirmed Wednesday.
"We can confirm that we were contacted by the FCA on this matter. Our ongoing enquiry into this matter continues and we are cooperating fully with the FCA and our other regulators. We can provide no further comment," RBS said in a statement.
The FCA said it was gathering information from a wide range of sources, including market participants, but its investigations are at an early stage.
The UK regulator said it would be some time before it could conclude whether there has been any misconduct which will lead to enforcement action.
It said no further comment would be given on the matter.
The news follows a report from Bloomberg that Richard Usher, JPMorgan Chase & Co's chief dealer in London, wrote instant messages while he was at RBS that UK regulators are scrutinising as part of the investigation into alleged currency manipulation.
Usher was named by two people with knowledge of the matter, according to Bloomberg.
The FCA's investigation is the latest in its scrutiny of benchmarks used to price financial products, after the London rigging scandal and the manipulation of gas prices.
On October 4, FINMA, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, said it was investigating a number of Swiss financial institutions over possible manipulation of foreign exchange rates.
FINMA did not specify which banks are involved but added that, "multiple banks around the world are potentially implicated."
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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