FX Fixing Scandal: Mark Carney's Financial Stability Board Launches G20 Currency Market Taskforce

The Financial Stability Board has revealed that it has established a new taskforce to review foreign exchange market practices in light of the raft of investigations into the currency sector.

The FSB said in a statement that it is creating a new sub-group on Foreign Exchange Benchmarks, to look into potential FX market rigging, and it will be chaired by Guy Debelle, who is the assistant Governor of Financial Markets at Reserve Bank of Australia, as well as Paul Fisher, executive director for markets, Bank of England.

"The FX Benchmarks Group will undertake a review of FX benchmarks and will analyse market practices in relation to their use and the functioning of the FX market as relevant," said the FSB.

"Conclusions and recommendations will be transmitted by the FSB to the Brisbane Summit."

The daily $5tn (£3.1tn, €3.7tn) currency market is the largest in the financial system and is pegged to the value of funds, derivatives and products.

FX rates are calculated are compiled by using data from a variety of submitted provisions on a number of platforms, such as Thomson Reuters.

It is then calculated by WM, a unit of State Street, to form WM/Thomson Reuters at 1600 GMT daily.

"Recently, a number of concerns have been raised about the integrity of FX rate benchmarks," said the FSB.

"The FSB has consequently decided to incorporate an assessment of FX benchmarks into its ongoing programme of financial benchmark analysis."

The FSB, led by Bank of England governor Mark Carney, was created by the world's top economies to coordinate regulation after the financial crisis, and has already set up another taskforce to create a blueprint for reforming Libor.

Last summer, the FSB said it would report back to the G20 countries in 2014 on how the benchmark should be changed and over what period, based on new international standards being forged next month.