French bank BNP Paribas is stung by a £188m fine over currency trading scandal

BNP Paribas has been fined £188 million for failing to keep its currency traders from using electronic chatrooms to manipulate prices.

The French bank will pay the money to the US Federal Reserve, which claims it failed to detect and address its traders’ use of electronic chatrooms to discuss their positions in the market for US dollars and foreign currencies.

The bank’s lack of control over traders was at the centre of a £268 million fine levied against it earlier this year by New York’s state banking regulator.

‘BNP Paribas deeply regrets the past misconduct,’ the bank said in a statement yesterday.