Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) — Barclays Plc has suspended three currency traders, including a chief dealer in London, amid a probe into potential foreign-exchange manipulation, according to a person with knowledge of the decision.
Chris Ashton, who was identified as global head of voice spot trading in a Barclays e-mail last month, and spot currency traders Jack Murray and Mark Clark were suspended, said the person, who asked not to be identified because they arent authorized to speak publicly about the matter. None of the three has been accused of any wrongdoing, said the person.
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Ashton didnt respond to messages left on his work or mobile telephones, and didnt reply to an e-mail seeking comment. Murray and Clark didnt return messages left on their work telephones or reply to e-mails. Barclays, one of the four biggest currency traders in the world, is reviewing trading over several years and is cooperating with regulators requests for information, according to a statement.
Regulators in the U.K., Switzerland, the U.S. and Asia are probing the $5.3 trillion-a-day foreign-exchange market after Bloomberg News reported in June that dealers in the industry said they had been front-running client orders and attempting to rig the benchmark WM/Reuters rates by colluding with counterparts and pushing through trades before and during the 60-second windows when the benchmarks are set.
Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Citigroup Inc. and Standard Chartered Plc also have suspended London-based foreign exchange traders.
We will come down very severely on anyone who we discover is breaking the rules, RBS Chief Executive Officer Ross McEwan, 56, told reporters on a conference call Nov. 1. He declined to comment on the suspended traders.
Both Citigroup and JPMorgan said in statements Nov. 1 theyre cooperating with government agencies in the U.S. and elsewhere probing the currency markets.
