Competition Commission probes foreign currency cartel

BNP Paribas‚ Citigroup Global Markets‚ Barclays Africa Group‚ JP Morgan South Africa‚ Investec‚ and Standard Chartered Bank are among the companies that will be investigated.

The commission alleges that the companies colluded through electronic messaging platforms used for currency trading which allowed them to coordinate prices when quoting customers looking to buy or sell currencies.

The investigation will focus on currencies paired with the South African rand.

The commission said on Tuesday that this anti-competitive behaviour is not unique to transactions involving the rand. It took its cue to probe from similar investigations in other countries.

“Conduct of this nature distorts the price of foreign exchange and artificially inflates the cost of trading in foreign currency paired with the South African rand‚” Competition Commissioner‚ Tembinkosi Bonakele‚ said in a statement.

“Indications are that this conduct was prevalent offshore‚ but with this investigation we are sending a clear message that we will pursue cartels affecting South Africa wherever they take place.”