South Africa’s competition regulator has reached a settlement with Standard Chartered Bank over allegations it colluded to manipulate the rand currency.
The Competition Commission said Standard Chartered admitted liability and agreed to pay a fine of around R43 million ($2.3 million) to resolve the case.
Standard Chartered is one of 28 banks accused of coordinating to fix rand-dollar rates between 2007-2013 through trader communications on messaging platforms.
The settlement follows the commission’s prior 2017 agreement with Citibank over the same misconduct claims. It comes as South Africa’s appeal court hears the broader rand manipulation case involving dozens more banks.
The regulator welcomed Standard Chartered’s willingness to settle, encouraging other accused banks to consider doing the same. Banks found guilty of rate manipulation face hefty fines.
Standard Chartered’s admission of wrongdoing and settlement is a notable development in South Africa’s lengthy investigation into exchange rate rigging in the rand market.
