Barclays is set to pay another £65.7 million ($100 million) to settle allegations that it manipulated foreign exchange markets. Earlier this month the British bank paid $120 million to the New York Department of Financial Services for its involvement in the Libor scandal, said reports.
A Financial Times article recently pointed out that Barclays’ cost for conduct issues have increased to more than £12 billion, according to a report by CPP Research Foundation, which was released earlier this year. This case, however, is just one of the many ongoing cases for Barclays.
Strange enough, European financial institutions don’t fork over as much as U.S. banks in conduct fines—JPMorgan and Citi Bank are clear examples of this. Globally, fines are now at $219 billion, according to Moody’s and it shows that regulators and accountants are taking misconduct seriously even if the threat of dishonest employees still exists.
International Monetary Fund Chief Executive Christine Lagarde in the past have reiterated that banks should stop treating regulatory fines as a normal part of business cost. In the private sector, most banks have adopted this idea.
In May, Barclays was ordered by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to pay up £284.4 million as part of its settlement and four U.S. industry watchdogs.
During a chatroom conversation, one Barclays trader said “if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.” Barclays’ total fines related to the rigging to the foreign markets are the biggest out of the seven banks found guilty.
Earlier this year, FCA said Barclays’ systems of internal controls and processes over its FX business were “inadequate” and “gave traders in those businesses the opportunity to engage in behaviors that put Barclays’ interests ahead of those of its clients”, the Telegraph reported.
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