US and CFTC Probe Probable Rigging of Precious Metals

The United States Department of Justice along with Commodity Futures Trading Commission will look into the likelihood that 10 large banks are involved in manipulation of markets for valuable metals.

This was revealed by the Wall Street Journal based on sources privy to said inquiries.

Prosecutors from the Justice Department will scrutinize price-setting procedures for gold, silver, palladium, and platinum in the UK.

On the other hand, the CFTC initiated a civil investigation, according to the publication.

The banking institutions being checked are Barclays PLC; HSBC; Credit Suisse Group AG; Bank of Nova Scotia; Deutsche Bank AG; JP Morgan Chase & Company; Goldman Sachs Group; Standard Bank; UBS AG; and, Societe Generale.

Representatives of said banks as well as the DOJ and the Commission did not make any comments.

However, HSBC admitted that the CFTC has given a subpoena to HSBC Bank (US branch) last month asking for documents that had something to do with its operations in precious metals trading.

HSBC has been named in a previous lawsuit filed with US courts in 2014 for a plot to influence the prices of these four precious metals as well as derivatives during day to day precious metals positioning.