Traders in bank collusion ‘highly skilled’ & ‘sophisticated’
The Competition Commission says traders used many platforms, including Bloomberg's instant messaging service, to distort the market.
JOHANNESBURG - The Competition Commission has described traders linked to 17 banks, who have been referred to the Competition Commission Tribunal for manipulating the rand's value, as highly skilled and sophisticated.
It says the traders used many platforms, including Bloomberg's instant messaging service, to distort the market.
Local banks include Standard Bank, Investec and Absa and international institutions like JPMorgan Chase, Nomura and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
The commission found that from at least 2007 these banks had a general agreement to collude on prices for bids in relation to currency trading involving the rand and dollar.
Deputy competition commissioner Hardin Ratshisusu says, “As long as a trader is linked to a particular bank and they were doing business for that bank, then that bank is involved in that collusive party.”
The banks named in the case are:
Bank of America Merrill Lynch International Limited
BNP Paribas
JP Morgan Chase & Co
JP Morgan Chase Bank NA
Investec Ltd
Standard New York Securities Inc
HSBC Bank Plc
Standard Chartered Bank
Credit Suisse Group
Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd
Commerzbank AG
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited
Nomura International Plc
Macquarie Bank Limited
ABSA Bank Limited
Barclays Capital Inc
Barclays Bank plc
(Edited by Shimoney Regter)
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