Barclays and HSBC are among several major banks set to be investigated by a Swiss regulator over possible collusion of precious metals markets.
Advertisement
“It (WEKO) has indications that possible prohibited competitive agreements in the trading of precious metals were agreed among the banks mentioned”, WEKO said in a statement.
The competition authority said it especially suspected the banks had fixed the prices of bid/ask spreads within the market.
Its inquiry follows similar investigations by the European Commission and the US Department of Justice.
The banks face financial penalties if WEKO finds them guilty of wrongdoing, the spokesman said.
The Competition Commission said investigations would possibly be concluded on 2016, but no later than 2017.
Spokespeople for Barclays, HSBC and UBS declined to comment. He didn’t specify a maximum fine, but added that more banks could be investigated.
Here we look at some of the details of the probe.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said some of the banks “participated in a brazen display of collusion and… manipulation”.
United States prosecutors have been examining whether at least 10 banks, including HSBC, Barclays, JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank manipulated prices of precious metals. Mitsui was not immediately available for comment.
There are also moves under way to reform the century-old method of gold price “fixing”, since the current global benchmark, London’s Gold Fix, has already been tainted by a rigging scandal and attacked by critics as old-fashioned.
Advertisement
A new method for setting the gold benchmark price is expected to take effect next March.
