Barclays Africa, Absa get immunity in rand-rigging case
Competition Commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele says the agreement is conditional and subject to confirmation, ‘depending on the extent of their co-operation’
The Competition Commission has granted Barclays Africa conditional immunity from prosecution in return for its continuing co-operation in the rand currency trading probe, the head of the Commission said on Tuesday. The commission said last week it had found more than a dozen local and foreign banks colluded to coordinate trading in the rand and the US dollar using an instant chat room called “ZAR Domination”. It recommended fines amounting to 10% of the banks’ South African revenue in a scandal that has piled political pressure on the country’s big four banks and raised questions about their dominance in Africa’s most industrialised economy. The local lenders have about a 90% market share of the South African banking market. “We did, through the investigation, receive a leniency application from Barclays/Absa which co-operated and gave us more information,” the head of the commission, Tembinkosi Bonakele, told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday. “We have a conditional agreement wi...
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