Changing attitudes: Bank penalties

Global regulators have imposed penalties totalling $3.4bn on five major banks, including UBS, HSBC and Citigroup for failing to prevent their traders from attempting to manipulate foreign exchange markets.

Switzerland’s UBS was given the biggest penalty, paying $661m to Britain’s Financial Services Authority and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Regulators found evidence that traders had colluded to try and manipulate foreign exchange rates by sharing confidential information about client orders with one another. This activity occurred right up until October 2013.