JOHANNESBURG - South Africa will no longer do deals with banks offering to cooperate in a case into alleged rigging of the rand, the head of the Competition Commission said on Wednesday, a blow to some banks that had discreetly approached the watchdog for a settlement.
The Commission concluded an investigation in February into whether banks colluded to coordinate their trading actives when giving quotes to customers who were buying or selling currencies.
It recommended fines amounting to 10 percent of the more than a dozen local and foreign banks’ South African revenues in a scandal that has piled political pressure on local banks.
“Some banks have approached us discreetly to discuss a settlement. We are no longer interested in those discussions,” Commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele a news conference.