Credit Suisse Group (NYSE:CS) is to pay US$135mln to settle an investigation by New York regulators into claims of misconduct in its foreign exchange trading business.
The Department of Financial Services (DFS) in New York said traders at Credit Suisse had co-ordinated with other banks and traded on confidential customer information, which could have led to the manipulation of exchange rates.
“From at least 2008 to 2015, Credit Suisse consistently engaged in improper, unsafe, and unsound conduct, in violation of New York laws and regulations, by failing to implement effective controls over its FX business,” the regulator said.
The DFS said Credit Suisse had used software programmed to trade in anticipation of client orders, in a practice called "front-running". Credit Suisse was also accused of sometimes delaying client orders through its foreign exchange trading platform, eFX, in order to boost profits.
Traders engaged in chat rooms to share information with other banks to manipulate prices, DFS said.
Credit Suisse denied the claims, saying that it does “not admit to any findings of factor and the resolution does not involve any fraud-based violations”.
The bank will include the fine in its fourth quarter results, to be published in February.
“Credit Suisse is pleased to have reached a settlement with the DFS that allows the bank to put this matter behind it,” it said.
It marks the latest settlement to arise from a global probe of foreign exchange markets. HSBC Holdings PLC (LON:HSBA), Citigroup, JP Morgan and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (LON:RBS) have also been fined for manipulating foreign exchange since the financial crisis.