Barclays is facing another fine, this time of $150 million, for manipulating Forex markets via its electronic Trading Platform , the bank said. The civil penalty, imposed by the New York Department of Financial Services, relates to failures regarding certain internal systems and controls. Barclays said it is cooperating with other ongoing investigations.
According to sources close to the negotiations between the UK bank and the New York Department of Financial Services, cited by the Financial Times, the bank abused the foreign exchange market via its platform, seeking to gain an unfair advantage over clients and counterparties alike.
Smaller Trading Volumes, Smaller Fine
However, the fine is smaller than the $485 million it was forced to pay earlier this year for manipulating the spot forex market. The reason for the difference in the size of fines is that this time smaller trading volumes are concerned. The bank said the charge will be reflected in its fourth-quarter financial report.
Barclays can’t seem to catch its breath ever since the Libor scandal broke out in 2012. Just last week the bank reached a $120-million settlement with a group of organizations that had been suing it for losses stemming from the manipulation of the benchmark rate that Barclays was implicated in, along with several other major international banks.
At the end of last month, Barclays announced the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Jess Staley, a banking industry veteran, who, the bank apparently hopes, will help it recover from the troubles that have been haunting it for the past few years and regain the trust of its shareholders.
