LONDON - The Royal Bank of Scotland has placed a third foreign exchange trader on leave amid a series of investigations by regulators into potential manipulation of key currency benchmarks.
Ian Drysdale, a senior currency trader in London, was placed on leave earlier this week following an internal investigation, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Mr. Drysdale could not be located for comment on Wednesday.
R.B.S. declined to comment on Wednesday. Neither Mr. Drysdale nor the bank has been accused of any wrongdoing.
More than a dozen currency traders at some of the world’s largest banks, including Barclays, JPMorgan Chase and UBS, have been placed on leave over questions about whether they colluded to manipulate benchmark currency rates.
R.B.S. suspended two other currency traders in October as part of its investigation.
Deutsche Bank, the largest player in the currency trading market with a share of about 15.2 percent, and Citigroup have both fired employees as they conduct their own investigations in the matter.
The R.B.S. suspension was reported earlier Wednesday by The Financial Times.
Many of the world’s largest banks have acknowledged that they are facing inquiries from regulators in Britain, the United States and other parts of the world into potential manipulation of the currency markets.
Neither the banks nor any of the traders who have been suspended or fired have been accused of wrongdoing.
Earlier this month, the New York State Department of Financial Services became the latest regulator to join the fray, requesting documents from a number of banks, including Credit Suisse, R.B.S. and Deutsche Bank, according to a person briefed on the matter.
The Department of Financial Services, headed by Benjamin M. Lawsky, is the first state regulator to scrutinize currency trading. Its jurisdiction covers any bank operating with a New York State charter.
Martin Wheatley, the chief executive of Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority, has said that the currency manipulation allegations are “every bit as bad as they have been with Libor.†His agency is one of the regulators examining practices in the foreign exchange markets, which are lightly regulated.
The Financial Stability Board, a task force set up by the Group of 20 last year, said last week that it would examine the process for how foreign exchange rates are calculated and analyze market practices surrounding those currency rates.
The task force has been working to ensure the transparency and reliability of global benchmark exchange rates following a series of scandals involving the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, and other benchmark rates.
