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Feb 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) andthe Commodity Futures Trading Commission are investigating atleast 10 major banks for possible rigging of precious-metalsmarkets, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people closeto the inquiries.
DoJ prosecutors are scrutinizing the price-setting processfor gold, silver, platinum and palladium in London, while theCFTC has opened a civil investigation, the newspaper said.
The banks are HSBC Holdings Plc, Bank of NovaScotia, Barclays Plc, Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Societe Generale,Standard Bank Group Ltd and UBS Group AG, theJournal said. (http://on.wsj.com/1FmfjWG)
Standard Bank spokesman Erik Larsen declined to comment onthe report. The other banks, the DoJ and CFTC did notimmediately respond to requests for comment.
The CFTC issued a subpoena to HSBC Bank USA in Januaryseeking documents related to the bank's precious metals tradingoperations, HSBC said on Monday.
The DoJ also issued a request to HSBC Holdings in Novemberseeking documents related to a criminal antitrust investigationit is conducting in relation to precious metals, HSBC said.
Precious metal benchmarks have come under increasedregulatory scrutiny since a scandal broke in 2012 overmanipulation of Libor interest rates.
HSBC was one of several banks named in lawsuits filed inU.S. courts last year alleging a conspiracy to manipulate gold,silver, platinum and palladium prices, as well as preciousmetals derivatives, during the daily precious metals fixes.
The century-old gold fix is a standard price for the metalthat banks set twice a day over the phone. Some gold tradersclaim they were harmed by a scheme to manipulate the fix.
The banks operating the precious metals benchmarks, known asthe fixes, said last year they would no longer administer thatprocess.
An electronic daily silver price benchmark is nowadministered by Thomson Reuters and CME Group, while the LondonMetal Exchange provides twice-daily benchmark platinum andpalladium prices.
ICE Benchmark Administration will run an electronic goldprice benchmark from March 20 to replace the London gold fix.
Switzerland's financial watchdog said in November it hadfound a "clear attempt" to manipulate precious metals pricebenchmarks.
An investigation by German regulator Bafin found no signs ofattempted benchmark price manipulation in precious metals,newspaper Handelsblatt reported last month. (Reporting by Supriya Kurane in Bengaluru; Editing by AnupamaDwivedi and Ted Kerr)
