LONDONâ€"Goldman Sachs on Thursday became the latest big bank to acknowledge that it was the subject of a series of wide-ranging investigations into the potential manipulation of the $5-trillion-a-day foreign exchange market.
Authorities in Britain, the United States, Switzerland and Hong Kong have all begun investigations, and in recent weeks, a number of banks have acknowledged that they are subject to those inquiries.
In a regulatory filing on Thursday, Goldman added the words “currencies†to a series of regulatory investigations and reviews it is facing.
The firm declined to comment beyond its filing on Thursday.
So far, nine of the largest banks in currency trading have announced they are facing inquiries, including Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, Barclays and UBS.
About a dozen traders at various banks have been placed on leave pending the outcome of the investigations, which are an early stage.
In June, Financial Conduct Authority announced it was reviewing allegations of manipulation of the foreign-exchange markets. The FCA has since upgraded its review to a formal inquiry .
Finma, the Swiss securities regulator, and Hong Kong regulators announced their own investigations in October. Authorities in the United States also have announced criminal and civil investigations into currency trading.
Goldman is a smaller player among the big banks in the currency trading market, accounting for only about 2.75 percent of trading, according to Euromoney’s 2013 FX Survey. That makes Goldman the 11th largest bank in the foreign exchange market.
