Barclays pays £1.5bn as banks fined over forex scandal

Antony Jenkins, chief executive at Barclays, apologised for the bank's role in the scandal.

RBS has also so far dismissed three staff and a further two are suspended.

Royal Bank of Scotland i among five banks hit with fines over involvement in the rigging of global currency markets and has agreed to 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 has agreed a total of £1.53 billion in fines with both US and UK authorities amid a raft of new settlements with banks over their involvement in the rigging of global currency markets.

The British banking giant's penalty includes a record £284.4 million to the UK's Financial Conduct Authority and the group pleaded guilty to a violation of anti-trust law in the US.

Authorities have fined five of the world's largest banks, including JPMorgan, Chase & Co and Citigroup inc, roughly $5.7 billion over manipulation of foreign exchange rates, the US Department of Justice said.

Four of them also agreed to plead guilty to US criminal charges.

UBS AG will plead guilty to rigging benchmark interest rates, the Justice Department said.

Barclays will pay $650 million in criminal penalties and Royal Bank of Scotland $395 million. Each will plead guilty to one felony count of conspiring to fix prices and rig bids for U.S. dollars and euros in the foreign exchange spot market.

Barclays also will pay an additional $1.3 billion to settle with the New York state Department of Financial Services, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the UK's Financial Conduct Authority, authorities said.

As part of the New York banking regulator's agreement, Barclays will fire eight bank employees involved with rigging foreign exchange rates, the New York regulator said.