The EU Fines Big Banks, Highlighting the Growing Importance of FX Rate Integrity®.

This post references articles originally written by Patricia Kowsmann and Margot Patrick for The Wall Street Journal and Eva Szalay for the Financial Times, both published on May 16, 2019.

The EU has fined five global banks Barclays, Citigroup, The Royal Bank of Scotland, JPMorgan, and MUFG more than €1 billion. The fine comes after a 6-year long investigation looking into the banks for the manipulation and rigging of the foreign exchange market. According to the Wall Street Journal, “individual traders at the five banks exchanged information in a way that allowed them to coordinate whether and when to sell and buy currencies for their advantage”. In a similar article, the Financial Times reported “the market-rigging activity took place between 2007-2013, and involved 11 currencies, including the euro, pound, dollar”.

As the investigation comes to a close, news of the manipulation highlights the importance of knowing your FX markups and the benefits of FX Rate Integrity®.

To read the full story visit The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.

-Paola Gasca, Analyst