Swiss authorities probe seven major banks

Geneva

Swiss competition authorities said yesterday they were investigating UBS, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and other major banks for suspected price fixing in the trade of precious metals like gold and silver.

The Swiss Competition Commission (COMCO) said it was probing whether seven banks had colluded to manipulate prices in the precious metals market.The watchdog said in a statement that it had “opened an investigation against two Swiss banks, UBS and Julius Baer, as well as against the foreign financial institutions Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Barclays, Morgan Stanley and Mitsui.” 

COMCO, which opened a preliminary investigation in February, said it now had indications that the banks had “possibly concluded illegal competition defying deals” in the trade of the precious metals gold, silver, platinum and palladium.

“We think they can have manipulated the price of these precious metals,” COMCO deputy chief Patric Ducrey said.

The competition authority said it especially suspected the banks had fixed the prices of bid/ask spreads within the market.

Ducrey said the banks had all been informed of the ongoing probe, and that the investigation would likely conclude in 2017.