Credit Suisse to Pay $135 Million to Settle Allegations of Improper Foreign-Exchange Activity

By Austen Hufford

Credit Suisse Group AG will pay a $135 million fine to settle allegations it broke New York banking law by improperly working with other global banks, trading ahead of client orders and additional conduct that hurt its customers.

In a statement, Credit Suisse said Monday it was pleased to have reached the settlement, though it didn't admit or deny the allegations. The company said it would record a pretax charge related to the settlement in its fiscal fourth quarter.

The New York Department of Financial Services alleges that Credit Suisse failed to implement proper controls over its foreign-exchange business from 2008 to 2015.

The regulator alleges that Credit Suisse foreign-exchange traders would use chat rooms with traders from multiple banks to share confidential customer information, discuss coordinating trading activity and attempt to manipulate currency prices and benchmark rates.

The New York financial regulator said these chat rooms allowed the banks and traders to reap higher profits from trades at the expense of customers.

From April 2010 to June 2013, Credit Suisse also allegedly used an algorithm designed to trade ahead of clients' orders before they were able to go through. The state said Credit Suisse predicted that the algorithm would generate about $2 million in profits in 2013.

Write to Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 13, 2017 17:05 ET (22:05 GMT)

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