CFTC Subpoenaed HSBC for Information on Precious Metals Trading
(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued a subpoena last month to a division of HSBC Holdings Plc for documents related to precious metals trading, the bank said in its annual report.
The subpoena was sent to HSBC Bank USA and the lender is cooperating with the investigation, according to the statement released Monday. The U.S. Department of Justice also asked for documents linked to an antitrust investigation on precious metals trading, the bank said.
“These matters are at an early stage,” HSBC said. “It is not practicable at this time for HSBC to predict the resolution of these matters, including the timing or any possible impact.”
Regulator scrutiny of precious metals trading has increased after price-rigging in everything from interbank lending rates to currencies led to fines and overhauled financial benchmarks. HSBC was among companies sued in the U.S. since last year over claims they conspired to manipulate precious metals prices.
Fixings, price-setting rituals dating back a century for gold, silver, platinum and palladium, have been overhauled as scrutiny increased on how market benchmarks are set. Switzerland’s regulator said in November that it found “serious misconduct” by UBS Group AG employees in precious metals trading, and Barclays Plc was fined in May after a trader sought to influence the gold fix in 2012.
David Matthews, an HSBC spokesman, said he was not able to immediately comment. Steve Adamske, a spokesman for the CFTC, declined to comment. Emily Pierce, a DOJ spokeswoman, didn’t immediately respond to a request seeking comment about the investigation.
–With assistance from Silla Brush and David McLaughlin in Washington.
To contact the reporter on this story: Eddie van der Walt in London at evanderwalt@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net John Deane
