Foreign Exchange Probe Worsens As U.S. Economy Slows -- Barron's Blog - General

[Deleted] 2014.01.30 08:31 #131

ginos1:
i think the forex market is controled by us and by ask and bid and banks economy

I think there is no trader can control the Forex market. While we, being the traders, play role in the movement of the foreign exchange market, there is no really way to manipulate it. But the perhaps, the economy, the oil, and the banks as well play certain rule in the buy and sell order in the Forex market.

Experiment FOREX Newbie Off-topic posts

remoteviewingtraders 2014.01.30 10:23 #132

Hopefully

thenews 2014.02.04 23:42 #133

Deutsche fires three New York forex traders

Deutsche Bank AG DBKGN.DE has fired three New York-based currency traders, in the latest sign that a probe over alleged manipulation of foreign exchange markets is gathering steam, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Diego Moraiz, Robert Wallden and Christopher Fahy were terminated by the bank, which told trading floor staff of the development on Tuesday, according to the source.

"Deutsche Bank has received requests for information from regulatory authorities that are investigating trading in the foreign exchange market," a bank spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. "The bank is cooperating with those investigations, and will take disciplinary action with regards to individuals if merited."

source

U.S. looking at alleged Press review Eur/usd

thenews 2014.02.05 17:13 #134

Citi, Goldman FX Heads Leaving In "Entirely Unrelated To FX Probe" Departures

When Reuters reported earlier today that Anil Prasad, the global head of foreign exchange at Citigroup, the world's second largest currency trader, is leaving the bank, our ears perked up. The reason is the news overnight that according to the British financial watchdog, Martin Wheatley, the allegations for FX manipulation, "are every bit as bad as they have been with Libor" which supposedly means they are taking them seriously. Could this departure have anything to do with a probe that has already snared head FX trades at JPM, Deutsche and countless other banks? Well, Reuters promptly clarified that Prasad's departure is not related to the global investigation into allegations of currency market manipulation, a source familiar with the matter said. "Anil's decision is his own and entirely unrelated to the on-going FX investigations," the source said.

So we had little reason to believe that Prasad's departure is tied to the probe... Until we read this:

GOLDMAN SACHS HEAD OF FX TRADING STEVEN CHO TO LEAVE, DJ SAYS

Specifically, Cho was the global head of spot and forward FX trading.

And right on its heels, this:

LAWSKY SAID TO OPEN CURRENCY PROBE OF MORE THAN ONE DOZEN BANKS
LAWSKY SEEKING DOCUMENTS FROM BANKS INCLUDING DEUTSCHE BANK, GOLDMAN SACHS, BARCLAYS, CREDIT SUISSE-SOURCE
BANKS IN LAWSKY PROBE INCLUDE LLOYDS, STANDARD CHARTERED, SOCIETE GENERALE, RBS-SOURCE

And while we are willing to believe for now that these two shocking top-level departures by the key FX traders at the two most important banks have nothing to do with such chat rooms as the "The Cartel,” “The Bandits’ Club,” “One Team, One Dream” and "The Mafia", we sadly have our doubts.We will reserve judgment until the final Lawsky report is released of course.

One thing is certain: manipulating the USDJPY and its most important derivative: the S&P 500, suddenly became much more difficult.

source

U.S. looking at alleged Press review UK fraud office to

thenews 2014.02.05 19:19 #135

Currency Market Unsettled by Trader Exits as Lawsky Opens Probe

New York’s top financial regulator opened a probe into the foreign-exchange market as banks including Deutsche Bank AG (DB), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Citigroup Inc. (C) lost senior traders in resignations and firings.

Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services, asked more than a dozen firms for documents on their currency trading practices, said a person with knowledge of the matter. Deutsche Bank, the top foreign-exchange trader, fired three New York-based dealers after an internal probe, people with knowledge of the move said. Goldman Sachs lost two partners while Citigroup said its foreign-exchange chief will leave in March.

Lawsky’s probe is at least the twelfth announced by authorities in Europe, the U.S. and Asia since Bloomberg News reported that traders at the world’s largest banks colluded to manipulate the benchmark WM/Reuters rates. Even staff who aren’t being probed are reassessing career plans as the scandal forces firms to change fundamental practices as revenue falls.

“Currency traders are now sitting in an unprecedented and unwelcome spotlight,” said John Purcell, chief executive officer of Purcell & Co., a London-based executive-search firm. “Regulatory pressures, scandals and attendant reputational issues are making it a much more challenging environment.”

At least 16 traders have been suspended or put on leave amid the global probe. Citigroup last month fired European spot trading chief Rohan Ramchandani.

U.S. looking at alleged Precious Metals Manipulation Worse Press review

thenews 2014.02.07 17:34 #136

Scandal: Bank Of England Encouraged Currency Manipulation By Banks

Raise your hand if you are surprised that, as has emerged, virtually every major bank was manipulating currencies (and everything else) whether as part of the "Bandits' Club", the "Cartel" or some other - until recently- secret message room.

That's what we thought.

Now raise your hand if you thought the manipulation could be so pervasive, so glaring and so in your face, that even the oldest central bank - the Bank of England - and who knows how many other monetary authorities, were openly encouraging traders from these private banks to do more of the illegal activity they had been engaging in - namely manipulating currencies - with their explicit blessing knowing very well such behavior is undisputedly illegal.

We hope at least one or two hands went up, because which it is one thing to be cynical about what is going on behind the scenes, it is something else to see the edifice of global corruption and criminality, whose only purpose was to preserve the status quo, unwinding before your very eyes substantiated by actual facts.

Such as this report by Bloomberg which confirms that yet another conspiracy theory is fact, as at least one central bank has been exposed to not only have known about a criminal activity that is now costing the jobs of hundreds of traders (and should lead to jail time), but to have urged it on.

From Bloomberg:

Bank of England officials told currency traders it wasn’t improper to share impending customer orders with counterparts at other firms, a practice at the heart of a widening probe into alleged market manipulation, according to a person who has seen notes turned over to regulators.
A senior trader gave his notes from a private April 2012 meeting of currency dealers and two central bank staff members to the Financial Conduct Authority about six weeks ago because of mounting media coverage of the investigation, said the person, who asked not to be named while probes are under way.

Traders representing some of the world’s biggest banks told officials at the meeting that they shared information about aggregate orders before currency benchmarks were set, three people with knowledge of the discussion said. The officials said there wasn’t a policy on such communications and that banks should make their own rules, according to the people. The notes could drag the U.K. central bank into another market-rigging scandal two years after it was criticized by lawmakers for failing to act on warnings that Libor was vulnerable to abuse.

If traders can show “they made Bank of England officials aware of practices in the FX market some time ago, then the bank will be at risk of being characterized as having endorsed, by its silence and inaction, the very practices which are now under investigation,” said Simon Hart, a lawyer at RPC LLP in London.

Wait for it, wait for it... Here it comes: "If the BOE did not encourage currency manipulation by bankers, then the world would have crashed" - did we get the excuse that the Bank of England (and soon after, the Fed, the SNB, the BOJ and all other banks as there is never just one cockroach) will use to justify their criminal behavior? Why, of course.

But for now the bank had this to say:

A spokeswoman for the Bank of England declined to comment about the 2012 meeting beyond what was contained in a summary provided to Bloomberg News last month. Those notes included a reference to “a brief discussion on extra levels of compliance that many bank trading desks were subject to when managing client risks around the main set-piece benchmark fixings.” No further details of the discussion were provided.
“Allegations that banks may have been rigging the forex market are extremely serious, particularly for firms but also for regulators who had been telling Parliament that banking standards were improving,” Andrew Tyrie, the British lawmaker who led an inquiry into practices in the banking industry following the Libor scandal, said in a statement today.

...

The Bank of England officials said they viewed the practices as positive to reduce market volatility and wouldn’t take the matter to the standing committee, according to the people with knowledge of the meeting. That body included a representative from the Financial Services Authority, the FCA’s predecessor, according to central bank records.

By pooling information on client orders, current and former traders interviewed by Bloomberg News have said they could gain an impression of probable moves in currency markets, knowledge they said they sometimes used to place their own bets before the benchmark WM/Reuters rates are set at the 4 p.m. London close.

Is forex market controlled by someone? - page 14