UK: Bank of England may have OK’d market manipulation conduct

A source has told reporters that officials at Bank of England may have actually condoned some behavior within the bank said to be at the center of market manipulation as authorities around the globe probe allegations of foreign exchange market manipulation.

Reports say Bank of England may have condoned the practice of sharing future customer transactions with other traders. The source said a senior trader at the lender handed over personal notes taken at an April 2012 meeting as part of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority investigation; within those notes, say reports, are accounts of traders admitting to sharing information about customer orders ahead of currency benchmark setting.

Further, those traders, which sources say came from some of the world’s largest banks, said at the meeting that there was no policy that banned such communication.

Reports say the alleged meeting notes could pull the Bank of England at the center of the ongoing forex investigations just two years after it was slammed for failing to prevent the LIBOR scandal despite having received warnings.

The Bank of England declined to comment on the alleged meeting.

Full Content: Swiss Info

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