/ 15 February 2017

Competition Commission to prosecute more than 12 banks for alleged collusion

The Competition Commission has been investigating various banks including JPMorgan Case
The Competition Commission has been investigating various banks including JPMorgan Case

The Competition Commission said it plans to prosecute more than a dozen international and local banks for alleged collusion in foreign currency trading.

The commission, which has been investigating a case of price fixing and market allocation in the trading of foreign currency pairs involving the rand, has referred the case for prosecution, it said on Wednesday.

The lenders included Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch unit, JPMorgan Chase & Co, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse Group, HSBC Holdings and Nomura Holdings.

The commission said that, from at least 2007, banks had an agreement to collude on prices for bids, offers and bid-offer spreads for the spot trades in relation to currency trading involving the dollar and rand currency pairing. — Bloomberg