<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><h1 class="title" style="font-size: 1.5em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.25em; color: rgb(75, 75, 75); -webkit-hyphens: manual; max-width: 100%; font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Big Banks Are Fined $4.25 Billion in Inquiry Into Currency-Rigging</h1><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 25px; max-width: 100%;"><figure itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2014/11/13/business/Forex/Forex-tmagArticle.jpg" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" role="group" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; max-width: 100%; font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.54902);"><span style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;"><font face="Georgia" style="max-width: 100%;">By CHAD BRAY, JENNY ANDERSON and BEN PROTESS | November 11, 2014</font></span></figure></div><p itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 25px; max-width: 100%; font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><webonly style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span></webonly>The traders called themselves “the players” and “the three musketeers” as they joined forces and shared information to “double team” their clients and manipulate currency rates.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 25px; max-width: 100%; font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“He’s sat back in his chair … announcing to desk …that’s why I got the bonus pool,” said one trader to a rival after they colluded on a rate, earning, according to regulators, a profit of $513,000 on the trade.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 25px; max-width: 100%; font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Citing chat room messages like these, replete with typos, jargon and vulgarities, United States, British and Swiss regulators on Wednesday <a href="http://www.fca.org.uk/news/fca-fines-five-banks-for-fx-failings" title="F.C.A. news release. " style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">fined some of the world’s biggest banks</a> a combined $4.25 billion, accusing them of conspiring to manipulate the foreign currency markets.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 25px; max-width: 100%; font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b style="max-width: 100%;">The fines pose no risk to the health of the banks that settled — <a href="http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=UBS&inline=nyt-org" title="More information about UBS A.G" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">UBS</a>, <a href="http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=JPM&inline=nyt-org" title="More information about JPMorgan Chase & Company" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">JPMorgan Chase</a>, <a href="http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=C&inline=nyt-org" title="More information about Citigroup Inc" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">Citigroup</a>, <a href="http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=HSBC&inline=nyt-org" title="More information about HSBC Holdings PLC." style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">HSBC</a> and the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/royal-bank-of-scotland-group-plc/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the Royal Bank of Scotland." style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">Royal Bank of Scotland</a> — nor were any traders or executives charged with wrongdoing. </b>And yet the settlements on Wednesday closed only the first chapter of what is shaping up to be a more damaging story for the banks. </p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 25px; max-width: 100%; font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Full story:</b></p><div><a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/british-and-u-s-regulators-fine-big-banks-3-16-billion-in-foreign-exchange-scandal/?alg=4H7Q6"><b>http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/british-and-u-s-regulators-fine-big-banks-3-16-billion-in-foreign-exchange-scandal/?alg=4H7Q6</b></a></div></body></html>