UBS in Advance Talks With US Department of Justice to Settle Foreign Exchange Allegations

Swiss financial services giant UBS said that it is in advanced talks with the US Department of justice to settle allegations that it attempted to rig foreign exchange markets.

The Zurich headquartered bank has been investigated in the US and around the world for possible market manipulations.

It has been told that UBS has already suspended at least five traders in relation to the allegations.

The current UBS allocations to cover settlements with the Departments of Justice and other authorities are adequate, said UBS in its quarterly results.

It reported a pre-tax profit of 1.98bn Swiss francs for the first three months of the year, more than double for the same period last year and beating analysts' expectations'.

Regulators globally have been investigating suggestions that some foreign exchange traders at several banks have, for years, colluded in artificial fixing of rates in the $5.3 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market.

It has been found that regulators have globally imposed fines worth $4.3bn on six banks, including UBS, for failing to stop traders trying to manipulate the foreign exchange market.

UBS approached US authorities last year with information in the hope of gaining anti-trust immunity if charged with wrongdoing.

A number of US and European investment banks have been reporting optimistic results lately, due to an uptick in market volatility.

UBS was also benefited, as it reported a 22% gain in revenue and a pretax operating profit gain of 82%.

Risk-weighted assets on the investment bank's balance sheet crept up slightly, but remained below UBS's self-imposed cap.

UBS said its core capital ratio rose to 13.7% in the quarter, which appeared to please analysts and investors. The Swiss bank said its leverage ratio also rose to 4.6%.