South Africa: Barclays Africa CEO “deeply regrets” role in FX rigging

South African lender Barclays Africa asked for forgiveness on Thursday for its role in rigging the local currency, a scandal that has raised questions over the dominance of four big local banks.

“We deeply regret that this conduct took place within our organisation,” Chief Executive Maria Ramos said. “Those who are found to have contravened our rules and conduct will in due course be held accountable.”

South Africa’s Competition Commission said last week that it had found more than a dozen local and foreign banks had colluded to coordinate trading in the rand and the U.S dollar using an instant chat room called ZAR Domination, a reference to the rand’s official currency market code.

It recommended fines amounting to 10 percent of the banks’ South African revenues in a scandal that has also piled political pressure on the four banks, which have around 90 percent of the national banking market.

The Commission began its investigation in April 2015, joining an international probe into the manipulation of foreign exchange rates that has led to big banks paying more that $10 billion in settlements.

Barclays Africa, a regional unit of Britain’s Barclays Plc, has already been granted conditional immunity from prosecution in return for supplying information that would lead to the successful prosecution of the other cartel members.

Full Content: Yahoo! Finance

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