HSBC Traders Accused of Profiting From Confidential FX Bets
- Traders profited from front-running orders, ex-client says
- HSBC says in court filing that traders did nothing wrong
Photographer: Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images
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Three HSBC Holdings Plc traders were accused of profiting from confidential information on a currency bet as a U.K. lawsuit refocused attention on a front-running scandal at the bank’s foreign exchange desk.
The traders, two of whom are only identified by acronyms, took positions in the bank’s proprietary accounts “in parallel to” rigged FX hedges, a former client, currency investment firm ECU Group Plc, said in a London lawsuit. The company alleged that HSBC engaged in a “very substantial sustained fraud” over a three-year period.