HSBC share price down, dismisses its European head of currency trading

HSBC Holdings Plc has fired its European head of currency trading in relation to the foreign-exchange scandal last month, for which the British bank was fined $618 million.

Stuart Scott, who was based in London and was in charge of foreign-exchange trading operations, was dismissed on December 9, after seven years with the British lender.

The dismissal of Mr. Scott was first reported by the Wall Street Journal and was confirmed by a person with knowledge of the situation. However, a HSBC spokesman declined to commend, so did Mr. Scott who was reached by phone, the journal said.

Mr. Scott is the latest person to lose his job in the fallout of the trading scandal. In October, HSBC parted ways with Serge Sarramegna, who headed its spot foreign exchange desk in London, and Edward Pinto, a Scandinavian currency trader. Although, the two had been suspended since January.

HSBC was one of the six banks that were fined about $4.3 billion by the US, UK and Swiss authorities last month. The institutions failed to restrain employees from coordinating with rival counterparts and sharing sensitive information in order to manipulate the currency market. The banks did not dispute the authorities findings.

According to a settlement report released by the Financial Conduct Authority, unknown currency traders using nicknames the “3 musketeers” and a “co-operative” utilized chat rooms in an effort to manipulate a number of benchmarks, including at least one supplied by central banks, for a period of more than five years.

The FCA also unveiled that bank traders colluded to trigger clients stop-loss orders, a type of forex order that limits ones potential losses, for their own benefit. However, the traders who are no longer at the bank were not charged for any illegal actions.

When the settlement was completed, HSBC said that it “does not tolerate improper conduct”. However, the British bank is still under investigation from other regulators, including the US Department of Justice, which is also looking into allegations that Mr. Scott released transaction-related confidential information to a hedge fund. Those actions resulted in big profits for both the bank and the hedge, but financially hurt one HSBCs clients.

HSBC fell 2.60% on Tuesday and an additional 0.02% on Wednesday to trade at GBX 622.56 at 13:28 GMT in London, marking a one-year decrease of 4.53%. The company is valued at £122.15 billion. Meanwhile, HSBC fell 1.57% during yesterdays trading session to $49.04 on the NYSE and was down 0.35% in pre-market trading.