By Jamie McGeever
LONDON, March 6 (Reuters) - The worldwide investigation intoallegations of manipulation in the global currency market tookanother twist on Thursday, as Bank of America suspendeda senior trader in London, a source familiar with the mattersaid on Thursday.
Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, the investment banking arm ofthe second largest U.S. lender, suspended Joseph Landes, head ofspot trading for Europe, Middle East and Africa, as the bankcarries out its investigations.
Landes couldn't be reached immediately and Bank of Americadeclined to comment.
It adds Bank of America's name to the growing list of bigbanks including Citi, JP Morgan Chase, Barclays and UBS who have put on leave, suspended orfired more than 20 traders since the middle of last year.
The Bank of England on Wednesday suspended an employee aspart of an internal probe into what Bank officials knew aboutalleged manipulation of key currency rates by traders.
The BoE also released on Wednesday minutes of meetingsbetween its FX officials and chief dealers in London stretchingback over several years that showed concerns over possiblemanipulation were raised as far back as 2006.
Regulators have said the alleged manipulation of the $5.3trillion-a-day market - by far the world's largest financialmarket - is as bad as the Libor interest rate rigging which hasresulted in banks shelling out $6 billion in fines andsettlements and criminal cases against some individuals.
"This is Libor revisited, this is going to run and run. Andremember, we're still dealing with Libor," said Mark Garnier,Conservative member of parliament and member of the TreasurySelect Committee (TSC).
BoE Governor Mark Carney and other Bank officials will makea scheduled appearance before the TSC on Tuesday and are boundto face questions on the Bank's probe.
The global investigation into manipulation allegationscentre on the so-called "London fixing" that is set daily. It isused to price trillions of dollars' worth of investments anddeals and is relied upon by companies, investors and centralbanks.
Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the U.S.Department of Justice are among several authorities around theworld looking into allegations that senior FX traders sharedmarket-sensitive information relevant for the London fix.
London is the hub of the global currency market, accountingfor some 40 percent of the $5.3 trillion traded on an averageday.