Hugh Son, Dakin Campbell, Greg Farrell and Tom Schoenberg write The U.S. Justice Department is seeking criminal guilty pleas from the parent companies of banks that are poised to admit to rigging foreign-exchange markets, said people briefed on the negotiations.Four global banks — Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Plc and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc — plan to plead guilty in coming days to antitrust violations related to manipulating currency rates, people familiar with the matter have said. Some of the pleas will be made by the banks’ holding companies instead of individual units, two people said on Tuesday.At least two of the banks sought to make their pleas from overseas subsidiaries, only to have the Justice Department counter that the admissions should come from their main banking units, according to a person briefed on the talks. They are discussing a compromise in which the holding companies would make the pleas, and that would be consistent with other banks, the person said.
UBS Group AG, the fifth bank that these people have said will reach a settlement, will take a different path: The Justice Department is poised to tear up an earlier agreement not to prosecute UBS in connection with interest-rate manipulation, according to a person familiar with the talks.
US Justice Dept. to Press Charges against Big Banks
