Credit Suisse says no proof of foreign exchange rigging

ZURICH - Reuters

The logo of Swiss bank Credit Suisse is seen at an office building in Zurich. REUTERS photo

Credit Suisse has found no evidence of foreign exchange market manipulation and that such a liquid market would be difficult to rig, its chairman said in an interview published on Oct. 13.

Switzerland’s financial markets regulator said this month that it was conducting investigations into several Swiss institutions over possible manipulation in the $5 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market.

“As is normal with such large-scale investigations, we have also received inquiries from certain authorities, as is the same for other banks. That is normal procedure, it was also like this with Libor,” Urs Rohner told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper.

“We have up to now, however, found no evidence of malpractice. To date it is also still not clear what precisely the topic of investigation is,” he said.

Regulators and investors have grown increasingly concerned about the integrity of financial benchmarks in the wake of the Libor interest rate-rigging scandal.

On Oct. 11, the U.S. Justice Department said it was making inquiries into allegations of foreign exchange rate manipulation centered on the Swiss franc but has left the heavy lifting to Europe, according to a source familiar with the probe.

“I am convinced that we have an investment bank that in good years can achieve 3-4 billion Swiss francs ($3.30-$4.40 billion) in pre-tax profit,” Rohner said.