UBS in ‘Advanced Talks’ with US on Foreign Exchange Probe

UBS says it is in “advanced talks” with the US Department of Justice to settle allegations that it attempted to rig foreign exchange markets.

The Swiss bank is being investigated in the US and around the world for possible market manipulation.

UBS has already suspended at least five traders in relation to the allegations.

UBS’s allocations to cover settlements with the Department of Justice and other authorities are “adequate”, said UBS in its quarterly results.

It reported a pre-tax profit of 1.98bn Swiss francs (£1.4bn; US$2.2bn) for the first three months of the year, more than double its profit for the same period last year and beating analysts’ expectations.

Regulators globally have been investigating suggestions that some foreign exchange traders at several banks have, for years, colluded in the artificial fixing of rates in the US$5.3 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market.

They have already imposed fines worth US$4.3bn on six banks, including UBS, for failing to stop traders trying to manipulate the foreign exchange market.

UBS approached US authorities last year with information in the hope of gaining anti-trust immunity if charged with wrongdoing.

Source: BBC News