FX Fixing: BoE Denies Senior Official Sacking is Related to the Currency Market Scandal

The Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has denied that the suspension and eventual sacking of a senior BoE FX dealer was related to the raft of currency market manipulation investigations.

Speaking in a press conference, which was intended to announce the central bank's economic outlook for the UK, Carney said that removal of a senior official, who was involved in meeting a group of top London currency dealers, was not related to US, UK and Swiss investigations related to possible FX fixing.

He added that "nobody at the BoE was aware of any improper or unlawful FX dealing" despite the BoE stopping the quarterly meetings between central bank officials and the Foreign Exchange Joint Standing Committee's chief dealers subgroup (CDSG) in February 2013.

The CDSG consists of London's top FX dealers and is usually chaired by the BoE's chief dealer Martin Mallett.

These meetings have existed since 2005 up to four times a year.

However, Carney said the sacked was related to information that "indicated serious misconduct" that was "inconsistent with BoE policies."

In March this year, the BoE suspended one official and confirmed that it stopped meeting a group of top London currency dealers last February following its internal review into allegations that it is involved in the foreign exchange fixing scandal.

"The BoE does not condone any form of market manipulation in any context whatsoever," said BoE at the time.

"The bank has today reiterated its guidance to staff regarding management of records and escalation of important information."

The BoE eventually fired that unnamed member of staff.

It added that the internal review has not found any evidence that BoE staff colluded in any such manipulation or shared confidential client information.

The Financial Conduct Authority and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission fined five banks a combined total of $3.4bn for their role in the manipulation of the foreign exchange market today (12 November).

The FCA announced that it has fined Citibank $359m, HSBC $343m, JPMorgan $352m, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) $344m and UBS $371m.

The CFTC issued its own civil monetary penalties, ordering Citibank and JPMorgan to pay $310m each, RBS and UBS $290m each, and UBS $275m.