Banks: Inquiries

(asked on 6th December 2021) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the European Commission’s €344 million fine on UBS, Barclays, RBS, HSBC and Credit Suisse on 2 December for operating a foreign exchange cartel, what plans they have to appoint an independent inquiry into the operations of the UK arms of these banks.


Answered by
 Portrait
Lord Agnew of Oulton
This question was answered on 16th December 2021

The UK’s independent financial services regulator, the FCA, investigated misconduct in the foreign exchange markets and fined six firms (Citibank, HSBC, JP Morgan, RBS, UBS, and Barclays) a total of £1.4 billion in 2014 and 2015 for failures of systems to control trading practices.

Alongside this, the European Commission opened a competition investigation in 2013, into the same issue, including covering any harm within the UK. In accordance with the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, the EU has continued to be responsible for the case, because it was initiated before the end of the transition period. The EU shall reimburse the UK for its share of the amount of the fine once the fine has become definitive.

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