South Korea probes six banks over currency rigging

[SEOUL] South Korea's Fair Trade Commission is probing how alleged foreign-exchange market rigging by six banks may have hurt Korean firms, the Seoul Economic Daily reported.

The commission last month began investigating whether manipulation of the price of US dollars and euros, and of derivatives markets, damaged companies and banks, the newspaper said. The lenders are Bank of America Corp, Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and UBS Group AG, it said.

Fair Trade Commission spokesman Kim Sung Ha declined to comment on the report, citing the antitrust agency's policy. Calls to RBS and UBS outside of business hours went unanswered. JPMorgan in Seoul and Citibank Korea had no immediate comment. Barclays and Bank of America declined to comment.

Six banks agreed to pay a combined US$5.8 billion in a settlement announced by the US Justice Department in May, with five pleading guilty to charges tied to a currency-rigging probe.

BLOOMBERG