Brazil’s antitrust body announced an unprecedented probe for the nation into alleged foreign-exchange market rigging by 15 banks, including Citigroup Inc and HSBC Holdings PLC, which are accused of colluding to form a secret cartel.
“There are strong indications of anticompetitive practices of price-fixing” and other manipulations between the banks, the Brazilian Council for Economic Defense (CADE) said late on Thursday. The alleged cheating is thought to have lasted from 2007 until at least 2013, authorities said.
“The evidence shows that [the banks] formed a cartel” fixing prices, coordinating trades and impeding other operators involved in the Brazilian market, the watchdog said.
There is also evidence that the banks shared sensitive information on contracts, futures prices, clients, negotiating strategies and other confidential material, CADE said.
Brazilian investigators said the banks under scrutiny communicated online via a Bloomberg chat platform to organize what they themselves referred to as “the cartel” and “the mafia.”
The other banks included Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, Barclays PLC, Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Corp, Nomura Holdings Inc and UBS AG.
The probe also targets 30 individuals who were not identified.
One firm under investigation signed a cooperation pledge, providing information as it seeks to avoid punishment or at least win leniency, according to CADE superintendent Eduardo Frade Rodrigues, who did not identify the company.
Penalties could amount to as much as 20 percent of revenue from operations involved, according to CADE, which did not elaborate on how that would be defined.
No Brazilian banks were named in the investigation, which was the first of its kind by Brazil.
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