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Investigator is open to settlement in rand-rigging probe

Johannesburg - South Africa’s Competition Commission is open to banks willing to cooperate and negotiate a settlement in its currency-fixing probe.

If the case against 11 banks being investigated for rigging the rand reaches “full-on prosecution,” the law prescribes a fine of as much as 10% of annual revenue “on the impugned business of the transgressor,” the Pretoria-based regulator said in an e-mailed response to questions on Monday.

JPMorgan Chase, BNP Paribas SA, Citigroup, Barclays Africa Group, Standard Bank Group [JSE:SBK] and Investec [JSE:INL] are among the banks being probed by the commission.

Government officials met the South African Reserve Bank on Friday to discuss the investigation, as the finance minister said he was concerned the probe may expose risks to the banking system.

“We are very concerned,” Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said in an interview at a meeting between business and government leaders in Johannesburg last Thursday. “We will meet with the Reserve Bank tomorrow to understand what happened and if there’s any impact on South Africa’s financial systems.”

The country’s Competition Commission said May 19 it suspects 11 companies of using electronic messaging software to co-ordinate foreign exchange deals when quoting prices to customers.

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