Traders who were rigging the £3.5trillion-a-day foreign exchange market could face jail for their part in a scandal that has today cost five banks a record £2billion in fines.

The bankers, who called themselves the 'A-Team', 'Three Musketeers' and 'The Players', colluded online by sharing sensitive information to make millions for their banks and bag big bonuses themselves.

Anyone found guilty of manipulating the market could face jail and banks could face prosecution, it was warned today.

The Serious Fraud Office has launched a criminal investigation - but there have been no arrests among the 30 staff sacked or suspended by banks including Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC.

Evidence released for the first time today revealed traders boasted to each other about making 'free money'.

Other messages reveal how the cartel feared being caught, telling eachother on forums: 'Don’t want other numpty’s in mkt to know... is he gonna protect us like we protect each other?'

In a single rigged deal which made Swiss bank UBS £322,000 ($513,000) one message read: 'He's sat back in his chair, feet on desk, announcing, that's why I got the bonus pool. Made most people's year'.

Punishment: Five of the world's biggest banks, including HSBC, have been fined a total of £2bn for colluding to make money from the foreign exchange market

Shameful: New evidence published by the FCA today reveals the bragging messages sent by bankers online as they rigged deals

Other message board threads read: 'How can I make free money with no f****** heads up? and later: 'cheers for saying you were same way helped me go early'.

The evidence uncovered by the London-based Financial Conduct Authority led to British, US and Swiss authorities all launching an onslaught after an 18-month investigation.

Regulators today revealed the latest scandal to rock the industry and handed out record fines.

State-owned Royal Bank of Scotland has been fined £217million ($344million) by the London-based Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as well as £182million ($290million) by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The others involved in the settlement are Citibank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase and UBS, who will also pay up to £500million each. Barclays said it continues to hold discussions with regulators.

More than 30 traders have been fired, suspended, put on leave, or resigned since the probes started.

The FCA said today that bankers, who referred to themselves as the 'A-Team' and 'Three Musketeers', colluded online by sharing information about foreign exchange orders so they could make cash for their banks and bag big bonuses themselves.

The new penalties handed to their banks dwarf the fines imposed over Libor fixing.

The FCA has said it issued the record fines because five banks were failing to control business practices in their foreign exchange trading operations. Barclays will be next to be punished.

Shocking: One conversation between traders led to a deal that made giant UBS $513,000 and one trader joked about how a colleague bragged about his bonuses

Its penalties dwarf the £532 million imposed by the regulator on banks and City brokers over the previous big regulatory scandal involving the manipulation of the interbank lending rate, Libor.

FCA chief executive Martin Wheatley said: 'Today's record fines mark the gravity of the failings we found and firms need to take responsibility for putting it right'

RBS chief executive Ross McEwan said: 'To say that I am angry about the misconduct would be an understatement.

'We had people working at this bank who did not know the difference between right and wrong, or worse, didn't care about the distinction.'

The FCA said traders at different banks formed tight-knit groups in which information was shared about client activity, including using code names to identify clients without naming them.

Names given to these groups included 'the players', 'the 3 musketeers', '1 team, 1 dream', 'a co-operative' and 'the A-team'. Traders shared the information obtained through these groups to help them work out their trading strategies.

FCA chief executive Martin Wheatley said: 'Today's record fines mark the gravity of the failings we found and firms need to take responsibility for putting it right.

'They must make sure their traders do not game the system to boost profits or leave the ethics of their conduct to compliance to worry about.'

An inquiry by the Bank of England found that no official was involved in any unlawful or improper behaviour in the forex market.

Wall of shame: UBS, Citibank, HSBC, RBS and JP Morgan were fined £2billion today and Barclays, bottom right, will also be fined at a later date

However one member of staff was aware that bank traders were sharing information about client orders for the purpose of 'matching' - a practice that can increase the potential for improper conduct - but did not raise the alarm to superiors.

WHO WILL PAY WHAT FOR FOREX RIGGING? BANKING FINES IN FULL Royal Bank of Scotland was fined a total of £399million including £217million by the FCA and £182million by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). HSBC was fined £389million including £216million from the FCA and £173million from the CFTC. Swiss bank UBS was fined a total of £503million including £234million by the FCA, £182million by the CFTC and £87million by the Swiss regulator FINMA. America's Citibank was hit with penalties of £420million including just under £225.6million from the FCA and £194.6million from the CFTC. JP Morgan Chase was fined £417million including £222million by the UK regulator and £195million from the CFTC. However Barclays, the third British bank expected to be fined, said it was 'in the interests of the company to seek a more general coordinated settlement' with more investigations from other authorities still to come.


The Bank of England's review, carried out by Lord Grabiner, extracted and applied search terms to 1.8 million documents and reviewed nearly 66,000 documents and 87,000 telephone calls.

Chancellor George Osborne said a number of traders have been suspended or fired and the Serious Fraud Office is conducting criminal investigations.

He added: 'The banks that employed them face big fines - and I will ensure that these fines are used for the wider public good.

'All of this action means the world can have confidence in the integrity of Britain's financial markets'.

Authorities in America have warned several past and present UBS employees yesterday that they could face enforcement action, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal.

The US Department of Justice is also involved, with JP Morgan saying that the DoJ is conducting a criminal investigation. The bank said various authorities, including the FCA, are probing its forex trading.