Competition Commission settles with Citibank over currency rigging
Citibank became the first bank in the forex trading cartel to reach a settlement with the Competition Commission, on Monday. The settlement of R69.5m is estimated at 10% of Citibank’s annual turnover in SA. It is the first by any of the 18 local and international banks implicated in the collusion scandal. Two traders - Jason Katz from Barclays and Chris Cummins from Citibank - have already been convicted after pleading guilty in the US earlier this year to price manipulation. London-based Citibank also undertook to co-operate with the commission and avail witnesses to assist with the prosecution of the other banks. Last week, the commission lodged a Competition Tribunal application implicating 18 banks in illegally fixing the rand-dollar exchange rate. The commission found that Citibank and its competitors had agreed to collude on prices for bids, offers and bid-offer spreads for the spot trades in relation to currency trading. The commission also found the banks to have manipulated...
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