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Commission seeks no relief from Barclays Bank Plc in banks case

Johannesburg - The Competition Commission has filed a supplementary affidavit in its application against 18 banks.

The supplementary affidavit is by Mfundo Ngobese, an inspector appointed by the Commissioner of the Competition Commission and employed in the Cartels Division. Ngobese was part of the investigation team that investigated the banks issue.

Ngobese says in his supplementary affidavit that in his founding affidavit he erroneously omitted to cite Barclays Bank PLC as one of the respondents against whom the Commission seeks no relief.

That is why he now requests in his supplementary affidavit that this be rectified.

In a second supplementary affidavit, Ngobese sets out why the Competition Tribunal would have jurisdiction over all 18 banks named by the Commission in its application, including Bank of America and Standard New York.

READ: Competition Commission prosecutes banks for collusion

Commission has been investigating a case of price-fixing and market allocation in the trading of foreign currency pairs involving the rand since April 2015. It has referred the case to the Tribunal for prosecution.

The banks named as respondents are Bank of America Merrill Lynch International Limited; BNP Paribas; JP Morgan Chase & Co; JP Morgan Chase Bank NA; Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd; Standard New York Securities Inc; Investec Ltd; Standard Bank of SA; Nomura International Plc; Standard Chartered Bank; Credit Suisse Group; Commerzbank AG; Macquarie Bank; HSBC Bank Plc; Citibank NA; Absa Bank; Barclays Capital Inc; and Barclays Bank Plc.

The commission is seeking an order from the Tribunal declaring that the respondents have contravened the Competition Act. The Commission is also seeking an order declaring that some of the banks be liable for the payment of an administrative penalty equal to 10% of their annual turnover.

The commission said it found that from at least 2007, the respondents had a general agreement to collude on prices for bids, offers and bid-offer spreads for the spot trades in relation to currency trading involving dollar/rand currency pair.

It further found that the respondents manipulated the price of bids and offers through agreements to refrain from trading and creating fictitious bids and offers at particular times. 

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