Reuters Reports - Another Big Banking Scandal May Be On The Way

 

 posted: 20 hours ago

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And it's electronic messaging that could cause problems yet again.

Reuters reports that internal reviews by banks in Singapore have found evidence that traders colluded to manipulate rates in the offshore foreign exchange market, according to a source with knowledge of the inquiries.

The discovery widens a global lending rate scandal into new markets, as fallout from the Libor case puts banks under added scrutiny and spurs both regulators and institutions to reconsider how certain key interest and currency rates are set.

The probes found evidence showing that traders from several banks communicated with each other over electronic messaging about what rates they were going to submit for the local banking association's fixings for non-deliverable foreign exchange forwards (NDFs), aiming to benefit their trading books.

'Traders were talking to traders, saying: 'I need you to help me today, I need to fix low,'', said the bank source, who asked not to be identified due to the confidential nature of the reviews.