South Africa: Citigroup, Barclays help in rand probe to avoid fine

Citigroup and Barclays won’t be targeted for fines by South African antitrust authorities for colluding to manipulate the value of the rand because they co-operated with regulators, three people familiar with the matter said.

While they may not yet have full indemnity, their disclosures to the Competition Commission could save them from being penalized if the information they provided is proven correct, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is still confidential. The two banks have been working with the commission from an early stage, they said.

Citigroup and Barclays were named as part of the rand-rigging probe that started in 2015. The Competition Commission on Wednesday didn’t name Citigroup and didn’t add Barclays to the list of banks it recommended for fines. The commission identified lenders including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, HSBC Holdings, BNP Parries, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Chase and Nomura Holdings as among those that participated in price fixing and market allocation in the trading of foreign-currency pairs involving the rand. It referred the case to an antitrust tribunal.

Full Content: Naija247 News

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