5 March 2014 Last updated at 15:00

Bank suspends worker in rigging probe

The UK's central bank is investigating whether staff knew about forex rigging

The Bank of England has suspended a member of staff after investigating potential rigging of the foreign exchange market.

The UK's central bank has been reviewing whether members of its staff knew about or condoned manipulation in currency markets.

It said there was no evidence Bank staff had colluded with such rigging.

However, Bank staff had to follow "rigorous internal control processes" and this compliance was under review.

It said no decision had been taken on disciplining any of its staff and declined to comment further.

It does not condone market-rigging "whatsoever", it said in a statement.

Allegations of currency market manipulation follow fines for lenders found to be manipulating or attempting to manipulate Libor, a rate at which banks lend to each other.

Banks including Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS have been ordered to pay a total of $6bn of fines for Libor fixing.

`As bad' as Libor

The head of the Financial Conduct Authority, Martin Wheatley, said last month that currency manipulation was "every bit as bad" as the Libor scandal. He told MPs 10 banks were helping the regulator with its investigations.

Banks have paid $6bn for Libor rigging

Traders are alleged to have colluded in setting certain key exchange rates in the foreign exchange market.

The Bank of England is assessing whether their officials were involved in or knew about market fixing or the collusion which may have led to a rigged market, it said.

Travers Smith, a law firm, will prepare a report after the investigation. So far, the central bank has reviewed 15,000 emails, 21,000 chat room records and more than 40 hours of telephone recordings.

Banks knew of unusual currency trading at a key period during the trading day, four years before regulators began investigating manipulation of the so-called "London fix".

The "London fix" is an important rate, set by counting currency trades over a one-minute period at 16:00 local time.

Reports seen by the BBC show how bank analysts had noticed sharp movements in exchange rates.

Banks even warned their clients about trading at that time.