EU fines five major banks for currency collusion

The EU’s powerful anti-trust authority on Thursday fined five major banks -- including Barclays and Citigroup -- more than a billion euros for collusion in the massive foreign exchange currency market.

The European Commission fined Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Citigroup, JPMorgan and Japan’s MUFG Bank a total of 1.07 billion euros ($1.2 billion) after finding that traders colluded to fix exchange rates, a statement said.

The commission said Swiss giant UBS received no fine as it revealed the collusion to the authorities.

“These cartel decisions send a clear message that the commission will not tolerate collusive behaviour,” said EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.