US said to seek multibank accord in criminal FX probe

US prosecutors are seeking to settle criminal currency-rigging cases with multiple banks at the same time, allowing lenders to avoid being singled out for industrywide conduct, according to people familiar with the matter.

The agreements, which are likely to come early next year, will probably include price-fixing charges stemming from alleged collusion among traders, said the people, who asked not to be named because the negotiations are private.

Settling with multiple banks at once is a departure from the way the Justice Department handled an earlier probe into benchmark interest-rate manipulation, which is still active. A multibank settlement would allow the government to wrap up a significant portion of the currency probe, which began more than a year ago.

"The financial industry gets a pummelling," said Robertson Park, a former federal prosecutor who isn't involved in the investigation. "As opposed to each bank getting taken out individually and shot, it kind of dilutes the focus on you."

JPMorgan Chase & Co and UBS AG have reported settlement talks with the Justice Department, while Citigroup Inc has said it's cooperating. All three were part of a group settlement of currency manipulation allegations with the UK's Financial Conduct Authority last week.

Resolutions soon
Attorney General Eric Holder, who plans to step down next year, said last week the department will announce civil and criminal resolutions in the currency investigation soon. The Justice Department is seeking guilty pleas from some banks, including at least one based in the US, a person familiar has said. Holder has signalled charges against individual traders are also coming.

It's unclear which banks will be part of the accords, what the final resolutions will be, or whether the Justice Department will succeed in brokering simultaneous agreements, the people said. Banks are negotiating their own agreements directly with the government, and aren't coordinating with one another, two of the people said.

Spokesmen for the banks and Emily Pierce, a Justice Department spokeswoman, declined to comment.

UBS, which was the first bank to notify US authorities of possible misconduct in the currency-trading market, has already been granted immunity from prosecution for antitrust violations, a person familiar with the matter has said.

Full accounting
Prosecutors have demanded a full accounting of any misconduct by mid-December, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News last week. The banks have met with officials in recent weeks to lay out how they see their liability, the person said. Barclays Plc, which pulled out of the November 12 group settlement, is preparing to meet with the Justice Department in the coming weeks, according to another person familiar with the matter.

Barclays opted out of the settlement with the FCA after Benjamin Lawsky, the head of New York's Department of Financial Services, refused to join the accord, a person familiar with the matter has said. Lawsky's team wouldn't guarantee Barclays that its license would be safe if it entered into the FCA deal, according to a person briefed on the matter. Barclays resisted the scope and duration of a monitor installed by Lawsky, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the discussions aren't public.

Marc Hazelton, a Barclays's spokesman, and Caitlin Ferrell, a DFS spokeswoman, declined to comment.

Authorities on three continents are proceeding with currency-rigging investigations after the FCA settlement, which also included HSBC Holdings Plc and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. None of the banks admitted wrongdoing in that settlement. US prosecutors are working with the Federal Reserve and Britain's Serious Fraud Office in their currency-rigging investigation.

Transcripts of chat groups dubbed "the 3 musketeers," "the A-team" and "1 team, 1 dream," released by regulators last week, showed traders sharing client orders and attempting to rig currency benchmarks such as the WM/Reuters rates. Traders boasted about "whacking" and "double teaming" the market and cheered one another when plans paid off.

"There's an enormous amount of investigative fatigue," said Park, now at Murphy & McGonigle in Washington. "It's really energy sapping to engage in what amounts to serial one-after-the-other resolutions."