Credit Suisse will pay $135 million in a settlement with the New York Department of Financial Services over charges that the company manipulated foreign-exchange prices and rates, and engaged in front-running of FX trades.
According to a consent order from the department issued Monday, Credit Suisse from 2008 to 2015 "consistently engaged in improper, unsafe, and unsound conduct, in violation of New York laws and regulations, by failing to implement effective controls over its FX business."
FX traders at Credit Suisse used code names to share confidential customer information, coordinate trading activity and manipulate currency rates, the order said. The activity allowed Credit Suisse traders to gain higher profits from FX trade execution, it said.
Also, according to the order, Credit Suisse's electronic trading platform, eFX, encouraged front-running, or trading ahead of known client orders, from April 2010 to June 2013 by the use of an algorithm that would predict client orders in advance.
Credit Suisse said in a news release that it did not admit to any of the department's findings but said the company "is pleased to have reached a settlement with the DFS that allows the bank to put this matter behind it."
The settlement is the latest involving the New York department over FX rigging. In May, BNP Paribas reached a $350 million settlement with the DFS for failing to keep its currency traders from using electronic chatrooms to manipulate prices.
