HSBC has fired a top foreign exchange trading executive a month after being fined £389m by US and UK regulators over market rigging.
Stuart Scott, head of forex trading for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, was dismissed on Tuesday, sources confirmed.
It had previously dismissed two London-based currency traders in October. HSBC declined to comment.
The bank was one of six fined a total of £2.6bn last month after global regulators found traders had clubbed together to rig foreign exchange markets, using swashbuckling nicknames such as A-team and three musketeers. HSBC’s penalty was made up of a £216m fine from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and a £173m charge from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The FCA said that the failure by the banks to control business practices undermined confidence in UK financial markets and put its integrity at risk, with 40% of forex trading taking place in London.
The Serious Fraud Office has launched a criminal investigation into the manipulation.
Meanwhile, it emerged separately last month that HSBC’s Swiss private banking arm had been charged with tax fraud and money laundering by an investigating judge in Belgium.
