Currency markets fixing

ffsear

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I wonder if there anything in this? time will tell i'm sure!

http://news.sky.com/story/1162640/currency-probe-barclays-traders-suspended

Financial Times report suggested Barclays had suspended as many as six foreign exchange staff - some of them London-based.

The paper added that on Thursday RBS suspended two of its traders as part of the probe.

Both banks declined to comment publicly on the suspensions but have confirmed they have been drawn into the investigation surrounding alleged manipulation.

RBS said in its third quarter results today it had been contacted by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and other authorities.

The Barclays building in London's financial district.
Barclays has reportedly suspended up to six individuals
It added: "The group is reviewing communications and procedures relating to certain currency exchange benchmark rates as well as foreign exchange trading activity and is cooperating with these investigations.

"At this stage, the group cannot estimate reliably what effect, if any, the outcome of the investigation may have on the group."

Ross McEwan, RBS chief executive, refused to comment on the case but said it would "come down very severely on anyone we discover has been breaking the rules."

Fellow banking giant Barclays said alongside its trading update on Thursday it was also co-operating with inquiries from various authorities and was reviewing its foreign exchange trading activities over a period of several years to August this year.

Citigroup told Sky News that a member of staff based in London had left the company under a mutual agreement.

Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and UBS have also been contacted as part of the probe involving regulators in Britain, Switzerland, the US and Hong Kong.

The FCA revealed last month it had launched its own investigation into the foreign exchange market, which is worth £3trn a day globally - with more than 40% of the market based in London.

Regulators are looking into whether currency traders shared information about their positions and knowledge of client orders through instant messages to rig the foreign exchange market in their favour.

Currency exchange rates are set on a daily basis by analysing actual trading volumes at leading banks during a short time window.

It is thought that traders could potentially influence exchange rates by pushing through large orders during the 60-second window to make a profit.

The investigation threatens to engulf the industry in yet another embarrassing scandal at a time when many financial firms are still battling to restore their reputations following the Libor rigging revelations.

Barclays and RBS were both fined for their part in the Libor scandal, paying penalties of £290m and £391m respectively.
 
the markets are rigged, who would of thought it eh

will anyone go to jail ? or is that a silly question
 
According to the report so far, the 60 seconds window time-frame is being used to move prices.....hence to suit themselves.....before and after.

The solution would be to remove the fixed time that rates are calculated and make it random.....unknown to anyone.....done by a computer.
 
I don't see what the fuss is about, rigging and manipulation is everywhere,
always has been always will be.
If someone is made scapegoat for this, it will either continue, or they will
find something else.

NYSE NBBO HFT algo front runners are legal, but whats the difference really.
As for the recent changes to the DJIA:
http://www.cmegroup.com/education/files/kendall-the-way-of-the-dow.pdf
Changes put down to 'balancing' while no mention made of influence
on index levels or rate of change in mainstream press releases.

Its all BS, just have to deal with it.
 
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Isn't this just LIBOR mark II? The London 4pm fix suffers from the same type of weakness as does the LIBOR. The LIBOR in allowing latitude of subjectivity - the 4pm fix in assigning specificity to a time point. A far better solution for he latter would be to take the mean of the previous X hours; for the former the empirical actuals interpolated/extrapolated.
 
Isn't this just LIBOR mark II?
Yeah pretty much, just a constantly evolving game of cat and mouse.
Its only these kind of relatively simple things that surface anyway,
or at least before they get out of control.

The whole CDO / CDS house of cards that lead to 2008 was
apparently too complex for them to unravel.
Then again, the mechanics that lead to that were put in place
by the very people that were supposed to prevent that type of thing happening.
So its no surprise they didn't see anything wrong with it.

That in turn has lead to the massive FED intervention (or manipulation depending
on your point of view...) of rates, commodities and indices under the guise
of QE.
You don't see any govt. regulators doing anything about that do you.
So what is rigging and what isn't...

This is just a comparatively small fry case that keeps the notion
of effective regulation and banking control alive.
I'm not saying regulation is outright ineffective, but at the end of the day
regulators are govt. agencies so its hardly surprising that govt. policy is
beyond their remit, even if that isn't officially the case...
 
Bankers cheating ?............I thought it was compulsory ?

N
 
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