EU fines banking giants €344 million for foreign exchange cartel

HSBC, Credit Suisse, NatWest and Barclays have been fined a combined €344 million ($389m) by the European Union after their traders rigged the foreign exchange market.

The European Commission hit HSBC with the highest penalty — €174.3 million — while Barclays was fined €54.3 million and NatWest €32.5 million.

Crisis-hit Credit Suisse was also fined, with the second largest penalty of the four, at €83.3 million.

A fifth bank — fellow Swiss lender UBS — was spared a €94 million fine because it blew the whistle on the cartel, according to the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.

The commission said HSBC, Barclays and NatWest — which was called Royal Bank of Scotland at the time of the offences and until a rebrand last year — had their fines cut for co-operating with the investigation.

Several foreign exchange spot traders “exchanged sensitive information and trading plans, and occasionally co-ordinated their trading strategies through an online professional chat room called Sterling Lads”, the commission said in a statement.

This enabled the traders to make informed market decisions on whether and when to sell or buy the currencies they had in their portfolios, rather than acting independently of each other and taking a risk in making these decisions, it said.

Margrethe Vestager, the European Commissioner for Competition, said: “The collusive behaviour of the five banks undermined the integrity of the financial sector at the expense of the European economy and consumers.”

The investigation focused on the trading of G10 currencies — the most liquid and traded currencies worldwide.

The commission said the fines brought to a close its sixth cartel investigation in the financial sector since 2013.

New UK refugee system

A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds

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Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive

Ali Azeem, business leader

Tony Booth, professor of education

Lord Browne, former BP chief executive

Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist

Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist

Dr Mark Mann, scientist

Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner

Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister

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Other ways to buy used products in the UAE

UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.

Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.

Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.

For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.

Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.

At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.