Barclays fined another $150m over forex-rigging scandal

Fine adds to the $485m the bank agreed to pay New York’s Department of Financial Services in May as part of a wider £1.5bn settlement with UK and US authorities

Barclays Banking Group has already paid £290m to US and UK regulators for manipulating the benchmark rate (Getty)

Barclays, Britain’s second-largest bank, is to pay an extra $150m (£99m) to US regulators to resolve allegations of its role in rigging foreign-exchange rates.

New York’s Department of Financial Services also ordered the bank to dismiss the global head of electronic fixed income, currencies and commodities automated flow trading.

The fine is higher than the $100m the industry was expecting. It adds to the $485m Barclays agreed to pay the regulator in May as part of a wider £1.5bn settlement with UK and US authorities.

The settlement was related to misconduct in a system called “Last Look”. NYDFS said that in certain instances, it was used to automatically reject client orders that would be unprofitable for the bank. “Furthermore, when clients questioned Barclays about these rejected trades, Barclays failed to disclose the reason that the trades were being rejected, instead citing technical issues or providing vague responses.”

In 2011, the Barclays managing director and head of automated electronic FX wrote to some staff: “Do not discuss Last Look with sales. If there has been a spurt [in rejected trades] just blame it on the weekend IT release and say it’s being fixed.”

Anthony Albanese, acting superintendent of financial services, said: “This case highlights the need for greater oversight and action to help prevent the misuse of automated, electronic trading platforms on Wall Street, which is a wider industry issue that requires serious additional scrutiny.”

The fine comes ahead of the arrival of Barclays new chief executive, Jes Staley, who starts in early December.

Barclays confirmed it had reached a settlement with NYDFS over the investigation that looked at the period 2009-14. The civil penalty will be reflected in the bank’s fourth quarter results.

It added that it “continues to co-operate with other ongoing investigations and to manage related litigation risks as previously disclosed”.

However Barclays, and other banks, could still face civil actions brought by clients or investors who claim they lost money in the forex scandal. Shares in Barclays rose 0.45p to 227.9p.