Five Banks To Pay Billions Over Currency Manipulation

Published May 20, 2015 at 1:33 PM EDT

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This combination made from file photos shows signage for four banks, Barclays, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and the Royal Bank of Scotland, that will pay $2.5 billion in fines and plead guilty to criminally manipulating global currency market going back to 2007. The banks conspired with one another to fix rates on U.S. dollars and euros traded in the huge global market for currencies, according to a settlement announced Wednesday, May 20, 2015, between the banks and U.S. Justice Department. (Lefteris Pitarakis, Nick Ut, Kathy Willens, Matt Dunham/AP)

JPMorgan Chase, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Citigroup and UBS have agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and pay more than $5 billion in total penalties relating to a U.S. investigation into whether the banks manipulated foreign currency rates.

The fines are on top of more than $4 billion in penalties that many of the same banks paid in November over similar charges. Matt Klein of the Financial Times joins Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson with details.

Guest

Matt Klein, reporter for the Financial Times’ FT Alphaville. He tweets @M_C_Klein.