Leniency given to banks who admitted to currency manipulation

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The Competition Commission’s Head of Cartel, Mohale Mohlala, says the settlements reached with the banks that admitted to manipulating the currency are based on the size of their firms in the country.

This as the commission announced that it has entered into a settlement agreement with Standard Chartered, which acknowledged its liability and agreed to pay an administrative penalty of R42.7 million.

This sparked controversy, as some felt it was a slap on the wrist.

The commission is also investigating a number of other local and international banks, such as Absa, Standard Bank, Nedbank, Barclays, and Bank of America.

Mohlala says they will be lenient to those who come forward and call out others.

“So when you discuss settlements with those banks, there are considerations about the penalty, whether a penalty should be high or low. And some of those considerations include whether it’s strategically assisting your case of persecuting others. In other words, are they giving me evidence? Are they giving me witnesses? So when you get that, then you can’t punish them in a manner that is similar to the one in which you are punishing someone who has been found guilty,” says Mohlala.

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