EU steps up currency-rigging probe

Paris

THE European Union (EU) is stepping up its currency-rigging probe more than a year after US and UK regulators issued multibillion-dollar fines to global banks, people familiar with the investigation said.

The European Commission has asked banks to gather sales data that could be used to calculate eventual penalties, said two people who asked not to be named as the case's status is confidential. The move signals that regulators may be gearing up to either open settlement talks or issue a statement of objections in the next few months, the people said.