LONDON-Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Chase and other investment banks are considering limiting the ability of their traders to chat electronically with other banks amid a series of investigations of potential manipulation of the foreign exchange market, according to people briefed on the matter.
No decisions have yet been made, but the banks are considering prohibiting traders from participating in group chats with employees of several rival banks at the same time, those people said.
If the restrictions are put into effect, traders are expected to still be able to speak to clients via chat or individual traders at another bank, just not in a group session featuring several banks at once, the people said.
Barclays and Citigroup are also among the banks said to be considering limits.
The banks declined to comment on Monday.
Regulators in Britain, the United States, Switzerland and Hong Kong have all announced inquiries into possible manipulation of currency trading in recent months
The use of chat rooms by traders at multiple banks are among the areas being scrutinized by regulators in the foreign exchange investigations.
About a dozen traders have been placed on leave pending the outcomes of the currency trading investigations.
Several of the banks have been reviewing the use of so-called multi-dealer chats for some time, in part because of concerns raised during a long-running investigation into the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, a global benchmark interest rate, the people said.
Barclays, UBS, Royal Bank of Scotland, Rabobank and ICAP have paid more than $3 billion in the Libor scandal in total.
