SFO closes FX rigging investigation

The Serious Fraud Office has closed its investigation into allegations of price rigging in the foreign exchange market due to a lack of evidence.

The decision follows a “thorough and independent” investigation spanning over a year and a half and involving over half a million documents.

“The SFO has concluded, based on the information and material we have obtained, that there is insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction,” it said in a statement.

The SFO said it had found reasonable grounds to suspect the commission of offences involving serious or complex fraud but that evidence proving the conduct “would not meet the evidential test required to mount a prosecution for an offence contrary to English law”.

The UK body said it continues to liaise with the US Department of Justice over its ongoing investigation.

The investigation began in July 2014 after material was referred to the SFO by the Financial Conduct Authority.

It was alleged that traders had been using internet chat rooms to coordinate the fixing of benchmark prices.

The SFO had said at the time that rumours of price fixing, particularly the 4pm fix – which is the price most clients use as a reference point – had been circulating for years.