German regulator BaFin finds currency manipulation evidence 

BaFin, the German regulator, said it had found concrete evidence that traders attempted to manipulate the global currency market, making it the first financial watchdog to confirm that suspicions of wrongdoing have clear grounds.

Raimund Röseler, the head of banking supervision at BaFin, said it had found evidence that “multiple currencies” had been subject to attempted manipulation.

These were not the largest currencies such as the euro and dollar, but tended to be smaller ones, he added.
The confirmation by Germany’s regulator that the €5.3tn a day foreign exchange market has been subjected to manipulation attempts comes amid an investigation by more than 15 authorities globally.

In March, Swiss competition watchdog Weko became the first antitrust regulator to say that it had spotted potentially illegal activity. The Swiss authority is now investigating four domestic banks – including UBS and Credit Suisse – and four foreign lenders for possible forex manipulation.

The sprawling probe into possible collusion and rate rigging in the global currency market has so far triggered the suspension, placing on leave or firing of at least 32 staff at 11 banks and the Bank of England.

BaFin is directly responsible for regulating Deutsche Bank, one of the largest currency trading houses in the world. The Frankfurt-based lender has placed a number of foreign exchange employees on leave as part of its own internal probe into the matter. No one at the bank has been accused of any wrongdoing.
Mr Röseler did not name any single institutions in his remarks.

 

Source: FT

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