Germany second-biggest bank Commerzbank sacked one dealer and sent the other on a compulsory leave over suspicions that they attempted to influence the Polish zloty’s euro currency rate, reported Reuters.
Commerzbank fired a trader based in Frankfurt who had earlier been suspended in February, while the other one, who was suspended, is based in London. The bank said the decision was prompted after internal controls showed the two traders attempted to fix the exchange rate, though it refused to elaborate further.
“We believe this incident was an isolated event and one from which the bank and the individuals concerned in no way profited,†said Commerzbank in a statement.
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The decision taken on the two traders has been prompted by expanding international probes by various regulators spread across several countries that are checking for evidence of currency manipulation. The probes have seen 35 traders being either fired, suspended or sent on a compulsory leave. Some of the traders affected include senior dealers in major banks and a Bank of England employee.
The investigations have also resulted in eight major banks being slapped with billions of dollars in fines for influencing reference interest rates in the $5.3 trillion-a-day forex market.
Commerzbank’s disclosure follows an announcement on Tuesday by the German financial regulator Bafin that it had obtained solid evidence that traders colluded to manipulate exchange rate and that it had enjoined more banks to its investigation.
Poland’s financial regulator KNF said its initial investigations show that no local banks attempted to manipulate the forex benchmarks. Forex traders in Warsaw also said that they didn’t see any evidence of forex rates manipulation. To register for a free 2-week subscription to ForexMinute Premium Plan, visit www.forexminute.com/newsletter.
To contact the reporter of this story; Yashu Gola at yashu@forexminute.com
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