Tag: UBS

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Article: Barclays, RBS and other banks face £1bn forex rigging lawsuit

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Barclays, RBS and other banks face £1bn forex rigging lawsuit

Sean Farrell, 29 July 2019

Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and three other banks are being sued by investors for at least £1bn over rigging of the foreign exchange market in a test case for US-style class actions in the UK.

A US law firm that specialises in stock market litigation has filed the claim at the Competition Appeal Tribunal. The claim also targets US investment banks JP Morgan and Citigroup, and Switzerland’s UBS. The legal action follows the European commission’s decision in May to fine five banks more than €1bn (£910m) for colluding to reduce competition in markets for 11 currencies, including the US dollar, the euro and the pound.

Cartels of traders with names such as the “Three-Way Banana Split” operated on chatrooms to rig the multitrillion-dollar foreign exchange market. UBS, which informed the commission about the collusion, was not fined but Japan’s MUFG received a penalty. Continue reading “Article: Barclays, RBS and other banks face £1bn forex rigging lawsuit”

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Article: JPMorgan, UBS among five banks facing £1 billion FX-rigging suit

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JPMorgan, UBS among five banks facing £1 billion FX-rigging suit

Bloomberg, 29 July 2019

London: JPMorgan Chase & Co and UBS Group AG are among five banks being sued over allegations of foreign-exchange rigging in a class-action lawsuit seeking more than £1 billion ($1.2 billion, Dh4.4 billion).

Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc are also among the targets of the UK suit that will say pension funds, asset managers, hedge funds and corporations lost out because of market manipulation between 2007 and 2013 and should be compensated.

The lawsuit centres on collusion on foreign-exchange trading strategies, for which the European Commission fined Barclays, RBS, Citigroup, JPMorgan and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc a total of €1.07 billion ($1.2 billion) in May. UBS escaped a fine because it was the first to tell regulators about the collusion. Continue reading “Article: JPMorgan, UBS among five banks facing £1 billion FX-rigging suit”

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Article: Swiss regulator to fine banks €80m over foreign exchange cartel

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Swiss regulator to fine banks €80m over foreign exchange cartel

The Irish Times, 06 June 2019

Four British and US banks will be fined about 90 million Swiss francs (€80m) this week by Switzerland’s competition authority for colluding to rig foreign exchange markets, weeks after the European Union handed out €1 billion of penalties for similar misconduct.

Weko, as the Swiss regulator is known, found that traders at Barclays, JPMorgan, Citigroup and Royal Bank of Scotland worked together in a cartel-style arrangement to manipulate currency prices for their own gain, according to people briefed on the decision. Continue reading “Article: Swiss regulator to fine banks €80m over foreign exchange cartel”

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Article: Citi, JPMorgan, UBS face forex class action over ‘Mafia’ chat rooms

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Citi, JPMorgan, UBS face forex class action over ‘Mafia’ chat rooms

Peter Vercoe, 28 May 2019

Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland Group and JPMorgan Chase are among five banks named in a class action lawsuit in Australia seeking damages for colluding on foreign-exchange trading strategies.

UBS Group and Barclays were also named in the suit lodged on Monday in the Federal Court by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers. The action says the banks colluded to rig foreign exchange rates, boosting profits at the expense of Australian businesses and investors, the law firm said in a statement. Continue reading “Article: Citi, JPMorgan, UBS face forex class action over ‘Mafia’ chat rooms”

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Article: Five Banks Face Lawsuit In Australia for FX Collusion

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Five Banks Face Lawsuit In Australia for FX Collusion

finews asia, 27 May 2019

UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland are among five banks named in a class action lawsuit in Australia relating to collusion on foreign-exchange strategies.

Australian law firm Maurice Blackburn on Monday filed a class-action lawsuit against the five international investment banks, accusing them of colluding to rig foreign exchange rates during 2008-2013 so they can profit. They are UBS, Barclays Bank, Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and J.P. Morgan. Continue reading “Article: Five Banks Face Lawsuit In Australia for FX Collusion”

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Article: Citi, JPMorgan, UBS Face Forex Cartel Class Action in Australia

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Citi, JPMorgan, UBS Face Forex Cartel Class Action in Australia

Peter Vercoe, 27 May 2019

Citigroup Inc., Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are among five banks named in a class action lawsuit in Australia seeking damages for colluding on foreign-exchange trading strategies. UBS Group AG and Barclays Plc were also named in the suit lodged Monday in the Federal Court by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers. The action claims the banks colluded to rig foreign exchange rates boosting profits at the expense of Australian businesses and investors, the law firm said in a statement. Continue reading “Article: Citi, JPMorgan, UBS Face Forex Cartel Class Action in Australia”

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Article: UK banks fined €1bn by EU for rigging foreign exchange market

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UK banks fined €1bn by EU for rigging foreign exchange market

Kalyeena Makortoff, 16 May 2019

Five banks including Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland have been fined more than €1bn (£875m) by the European Union for rigging the multitrillion-dollar foreign exchange market.

The European commission said the banks, which also include Citigroup, JP Morgan and MUFG (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group), formed two cartels to manipulate the spot foreign exchange market for 11 currencies, including the US dollar, the euro and the pound.

The commission’s penalty adds to the £1.3bn in fines imposed by the UK Financial Conduct Authority in 2014 over the same case. While the FCA’s penalty focused on the lender’s breach of regulations, the EU’s fine deals with how their behaviour dampened competition.

“These cartel decisions send a clear message that the commission will not tolerate collusive behaviour in any sector of the financial markets,” the European competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, said in a statement.

The banking industry has been hit with billions in fines worldwide over the last decade for rigging benchmarks used in many day-to-day financial transactions, and are now at risk of private lawsuits.

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Article: Part 4 in Series on Illegal Naked Shorting’s Role in Stock Manipulation: Who are the Key Players?

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Article: Part 4 in Series on Illegal Naked Shorting’s Role in Stock Manipulation: Who are the Key Players?

Larry Smith

Smith On Stocks, 17 April 2019

I worked on Wall Street as an analyst for nearly 40 years and was involved in the stock market on a day to day basis. Throughout this time, I was focused on fundamental developments that would give an insight into the potential for a company to grow its sales and profits and then trying to translate that into future stock performance. Like many investors, I believed that this was the overarching factor in predicting future stock performance. I had no inkling and I would have been shocked if someone had told me ten years ago what the experience of the past decade has taught, i.e., in many, many cases (particularly for small companies) fundamentals are not the most important factor determining the stock price.

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See All Larry Smith Posts @ SNSS

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Article: Part 3 in Series on Illegal Naked Shorting’s Role in Stock Manipulation – Prime Brokers and the DTCC Have a Troubling Monopoly on Clearing and Settling Stock Trades

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Part 3 in Series on Illegal Naked Shorting’s Role in Stock Manipulation – Prime Brokers and the DTCC Have a Troubling Monopoly on Clearing and Settling Stock Trades

Larry Smith

Smith On Stocks, 11 April 2019

I am not going to attempt to show in any detail how the clearing, settlement and depositing of securities system evolved from the crisis of the mid-60s to what is now a totally paperless, electronic system. But briefly, Congress passed legislation in 1971 for two new service organizations, whose objectives were the speeding up the clearance and settlement process. The Depository Trust Company (DTC) was established as the nation’s principal securities depository, with the mission to convert paper certificates to electronic book entries and to immobilize the paper certificates and keep them in a vault at the DTC. (No more shuttling by messengers.) The National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) was established at the same time to speed up clearance and settlement services.

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See All Larry Smith Posts @ SNSS

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Article: UBS agrees to pay $68M in multistate settlement over Libor manipulation claims

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UBS agrees to pay $68M in multistate settlement over Libor manipulation claims

Declan Harty, 21 December 2018

UBS AG agreed to pay $68 million as part of settlement with 39 U.S. states and the District of Columbia related to the Swiss banking giant’s alleged manipulation of the London interbank offered rate.

Led by New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood, the UBS settlement is the latest in a string of agreements state regulators have recently reached with banks that were allegedly altering Libor submissions for their own benefit leading up to and around the financial crisis of 2008.

UBS was accused of misrepresenting its U.S. dollar-tied Libor submissions to protect its reputation, according to a press release from Underwood’s office. The 40 attorneys general who were part of the settlement also claimed UBS manipulated Yen Libor submissions to favor its derivative trading positions. Continue reading “Article: UBS agrees to pay $68M in multistate settlement over Libor manipulation claims”

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Article: UBS Fined $15 Million Over Anti-Money-Laundering Systems

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UBS Fined $15 Million Over Anti-Money-Laundering Systems

Maria Armental and Samuel Rubenfeld, 17 December, 2018

UBS Group AG agreed to pay a combined $15 million fine over regulatory deficiencies in its anti-money-laundering program, U.S. regulators said Monday.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, said broker-dealer unit UBS Financial Services Inc. violated the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires financial firms to report suspicious activities, over a roughly 13-year period through 2017. Continue reading “Article: UBS Fined $15 Million Over Anti-Money-Laundering Systems”

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Fined: UBS Financial Services Inc. Fined by FINRA

Fined

UBS Financial Services Inc. Fined by FINRA

5 October 2018

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and
fined $50,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented
to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to report to the Trade
Reporting and Compliance Engine® (TRACE®) transactions in TRACE-Eligible
Agency Debt Securities and in TRACE-Eligible Securitized Products within the
time permitted under FINRA Rule 6730(a).

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Article: The Government’s New Strategy to Crack Down on ‘Spoofing’

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The Government’s New Strategy to Crack Down on ‘Spoofing’

Peter J. Henning

New York Times, 4 September 2018

The Justice Department has tried to crack down on traders who try to move markets by entering and quickly canceling orders, conduct that goes by the catchy moniker “spoofing.”

But the government’s early prosecution of the crime has faced a big setback. In just the second trial for spoofing, which the Dodd-Frank Act outlawed, a Connecticut jury acquitted a former trader at UBS of spoofing this spring. That raised questions about whether prosecutors can pursue these cases.

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Article: Ex-Deutsche Bank Traders Charged in Expanding Spoofing Probe

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Ex-Deutsche Bank Traders Charged in Expanding Spoofing Probe

Chris Dolmetsch, 25 June 2018

Two former Deutsche Bank AG employees were charged with fraudulent and manipulative trading involving precious metals futures contracts through a practice known as spoofing as a federal probe on illegal market practices continues to widen.

James Vorley, 38, of the U.K., and Cedric Chanu, 39, of France and the United Arab Emirates, were indicted Tuesday for conspiracy and wire fraud by a grand jury in Chicago.

The two men are accused of engaging in a multiyear scheme to defraud other traders on the Commodity Exchange Inc., a venue run by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group. Prosecutors said they worked with another Deutsche Bank trader, David Liew, to place fraudulent orders that they didn’t intend to execute to create a false sense of supply and demand and induce other traders to enter into transactions they wouldn’t have otherwise made.

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Article: Ex-UBS trader beats market manipulation charge

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Ex-UBS trader beats market manipulation charge

New York (AFP), 25 April 2018

Former UBS precious metals trader Andre Flotron was acquitted on Wednesday of market manipulation, a development that could spell trouble for similar cases against other Wall Street traders.

Authorities arrested Flotron late last year on charges he engaged in a Wall Street practice called “spoofing,” which involves placing and then immediately aborting trades to move prices. The acquittal follows January’s $46.6 million settlement with UBS, Deutsche Bank and HSBC over allegations traders at the banks worked to manipulate futures markets in precious metals between 2008 and early 2014.

Before this case, only three other people had ever been charged with “spoofing,” according to the Justice Department, a practice banned under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform legislation. Continue reading “Article: Ex-UBS trader beats market manipulation charge”

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