FRANKFURT — The banking industry, already troubled by official inquiries that have badly damaged its reputation, got hit by another on Friday. Swiss authorities said they were investigating whether financial institutions had colluded to manipulate foreign exchange markets.
In a terse statement, the Swiss financial industry regulator, known as Finma, said it was investigating several Swiss banks but did not name them. The agency also said it was cooperating with authorities in other countries and that banks outside the country were also suspected. A spokesman for Finma declined to comment further.
Spokesmen for Switzerland’s two largest banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, declined to comment. UBS is fourth among global banks in currency trading, according to Euromoney. Credit Suisse is a relatively minor player, with 3.7 percent of the currency market vs. 10.1 percent for U.B.S.
The largest currency trader globally is Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, with 15.2 percent of the market. A spokesman for Deutsche Bank also declined to comment.
In earlier inquiries, more than a dozen global banks have been accused or suspected of manipulating the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, a benchmark used to set interest rates on trillions of dollars of mortgages and other loans. In December, UBS agreed to pay approximately 1.4 billion Swiss francs ($1.6 billion) as part of a settlement with American, British and Swiss authorities in connection with the Libor inquiry.
Swiss authorities did not give any indication Friday of how much money might have been involved in any manipulation, but the potential is enormous. Currencies worth $5.3 trillion are traded every day, according to the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland.
“Finma is currently conducting investigations into several Swiss financial institutions in connection with possible manipulation of foreign exchange markets,” the regulator said in a statement. “Finma is coordinating closely with authorities in other countries as multiple banks around the world are potentially implicated.”
A spokesman for the German bank regulator, known as Bafin, said he could not comment on whether German authorities were involved in the investigation.
In June, Britain’s financial regulator said it was examining claims that traders at large banks manipulated some foreign exchange benchmark rates and that it might start an official investigation. It was not immediately clear if that preliminary inquiry was related to the Swiss investigation.
The Financial Conduct Authority said in June that it was talking to individuals in the foreign exchange market about claims that traders rigged the so-called WM/Reuters rates. On Friday, the F.C.A. reiterated that it was in discussions with all of the relevant parties, but would not comment further.
Because the foreign exchange market is not regulated, any F.C.A. inquiry would focus on individuals authorized by the regulator to act in the market and whether companies did enough to prevent market abuse.
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