Authorities in Switzerland have fined five banks, including Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Barclays, for fixing foreign exchange trading through cartels dubbed “Three Way Banana Split” and “Essex Express”.
The WEKO competition regulator said it had issued penalties totalling 90m Swiss francs (£71.3m).
They were issued weeks after the European Commission imposed larger fines on the five – also including Citi, JPMorgan and MUFG.
The watchdog said its investigation found “several anti-competitive practices” but spared domestic bank UBS from any punishment after it first alerted officials to the allegations.
Its statement said: “Traders of Barclays, Citigroup, JPMorgan, RBS and UBS (listed in alphabetical order) participated in the ‘Three way banana split’ cartel from 2007 to 2013.
“Participants in the ‘Essex Express’ cartel (from 2009 to 2012) were traders of Barclays, MUFG Bank, RBS and UBS.
“The coordination of certain G10-currencies took place in chatrooms.”
news.sky.com/story/barclays-and-rbs-fined-for-fixing-currency-trading-11735881