Financial Times: Currency market probe widens

London accounts for 40% of all foreign exchange trading

A global investigation into alleged currency-market manipulation has been expanded to 15 of the world's biggest banks, the Financial Times says.

The probe now includes euro-dollar trading, the biggest part of the market, according to the London-based newspaper.

Last month Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it was examining whether traders had colluded.

Regulators in Switzerland, Hong Kong and the US are also involved.

The global foreign exchange market is worth more than $5tn a day, and London is the most important hub, accounting for about 40% of all foreign-exchange trading.

Several banks have confirmed that they are co-operating with the investigation, including Royal Bank of Scotland, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Barclays.

Earlier this month Barclays suspended six traders as part of a probe into suggestions that currency markets could have been rigged.

Suspicions of exchange rate manipulation centre on a one-minute window of trading at 16:00 every day that is used to set exchange rates.

The suggestion is that traders colluded to push through high volumes of trades in the run-up to and during the window to influence rates.

Last month Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) suspended two traders in connection with the investigation into the currency markets.