Forex rigging scandal: The key numbers
What is the Forex market?
The foreign exchange market -known as Forex- is a virtual trading place where dealers buy and sell currencies. 40% of all trades occur in London.
Deals at today's price are called the "spot" market and bets can also be made on future exchange rates.
Much of the trading is speculative, but much of it is to meet the essential trading needs of companies and large city institution like pension funds.
What were the fines?
Barclays has agreed a total of £1.53 billion in fines with both US and UK authorities including a record £284.4 million to the UK's Financial Conduct Authority the group pleaded guilty to a violation of anti-trust law in the US.
Royal Bank of Scotland will pay $669 million (£430 million) to US authorities. It comes on top of a £399 million penalty last November, including £217 million by the FCA and $290 million (£186 million) by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).Barclays paid the highest amount today because they did not take part in last November's deal and has taken the fines in one financial hit.
JPMorgan will pay $550 million in US fines.
Citigroup will pay $925 million in US fines.
UBS will pay $203 million in US fines.
All five also pleaded guilty to criminal charges over the rigging of Forex.
In a separate matter the US Federal Reserve fines the Bank of America $205 million in connection with the Forex scandal.
How big is the foreign exchange market?
Huge. According to figures from the World Bank, the Forex day trade dwarfs the annual UK economic output.
UK annual economic output: £1.6 trillion
Forex market trade per day: £3.3 trillion
It's worth noting that much of the Forex trading takes place during a one minute window at 16:00 GMT each day.
Where does the money from the UK fines go?
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) confirmed the latest fine will go to the Treasury, once the regulators' costs are recouped.The Treasury has so far used fines from the banks over the rigging of the Libor rate to support military charities and other good causes.The Conservatives also signalled further uses for the fines, pledging during the election campaign to use a recent £227 million FCA fine on Deutsche Bank to create 50,000 apprenticeships.