In the United Kingdom, a spate of investigations into the country’s banking sector continues to generate lucrative mandates for lawyers. Clifford Chance, Allen & Overy and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher are among the firms tapped by banks as regulators clamp down on poor service and market abuse.
Six major international banks were in November hit with record fines, following a 13-month investigation by U.K. and U.S. regulators into an attempted rigging of the foreign exchange (forex) market. The banks were fined a total of 2.6 billion pounds ($4.3 billion)—the 1.07 billion pound ($1.77 billion) fine by U.K. finance sector regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the largest ever levied against banks in London—for failing to prevent traders from conspiring to manipulate the $5.3 trillion-per-day forex market. Dealers were accused by authorities of using online chat rooms to swap confidential information about client orders under aliases such as “the three musketeers” and “the players.”
