Competition Commission settles with Citibank over currency rigging

Citibank became the first bank in the forex trading cartel to reach a settlement with the Competition Commission, on Monday.

The settlement of R69.5m is estimated at 10% of Citibank’s annual turnover in SA. It is the first by any of the 18 local and international banks implicated in the collusion scandal.

Two traders - Jason Katz from Barclays and Chris Cummins from Citibank - have already been convicted after pleading guilty in the US earlier this year to price manipulation.

London-based Citibank also undertook to co-operate with the commission and avail witnesses to assist with the prosecution of the other banks.

Last week, the commission lodged a Competition Tribunal application implicating 18 banks in illegally fixing the rand-dollar exchange rate.

The commission found that Citibank and its competitors had agreed to collude on prices for bids, offers and bid-offer spreads for the spot trades in relation to currency trading.

The commission also found the banks to have manipulated the price of bids and offers by refraining from trading at particular times and posting fictitious bids and offers.

Competition Commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele said on Monday: “This settlement was done to encourage speedy settlement and full disclosure, to strengthen the evidence for prosecution of the other banks.”