Authorities arrest HSBC trader in New York

HSBC arrest is believed to be in connection with the Justice Department's investigation into foreign exchange rigging.

HSBC has remained tight-lipped amid news reports that a senior figure in its foreign exchange trading team has been arrested in New York.

A report by Bloomberg suggests that an arrest was made at John F Kennedy airport yesterday in relation to the ongoing investigation by US authorities into benchmark manipulation.

The US Department of Justice has been looking at how banks and traders rigged foreign exchange trades for more than three years, resulting in $2.5 billion of fines for five banks in May 2015.

Back then, Citi, JP Morgan, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland all pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to manipulate the FX spot market. UBS pleaded guilty to manipulating Libor among other interest rates and paid a $203 million penalty.

HSBC was not announced by the Justice Department among the banks prosecuted at the time.

Speaking to The Trade, a spokesman for HSBC said the bank was not commenting on reports of an arrest at this stage.

This story will be updated with further information as it becomes available.

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