Here is a better explanation of what these traders did:
<a href="http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-11-12/banks-manipulated-foreign-exchange-in-ways-you-can-t-teach" rel="nofollow">http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-11-12/banks-manip...</a><p>Some additional reading:
<a href="http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-05-20/bank-fine-scorecard-follow-along-at-home-" rel="nofollow">http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-05-20/bank-fine-s...</a><p>Quote: "<i>They also got together in chat rooms to, essentially, lay off some of their client risk to one another prior to the fixing. That laying off of client risk, again, looks a bit conspiratorial, but it probably made markets more efficient, and is not obviously bad or illegal. Then they went beyond that efficient laying off of risk, trying to move the price in their favor. They seem to have made some money doing this, at the expense of their clients, but my suspicion was that they were "tinkering at the edges of real supply and demand," optimizing how they made money trading their combined customer order book rather than truly rigging the FX market.</i>"<p>This is an alternative viewpoint:
<a href="https://medium.com/bull-market/oranges-and-lemons-the-fx-scandal-in-perspective-cd3456089ce4" rel="nofollow">https://medium.com/bull-market/oranges-and-lemons-the-fx-sca...</a><p>Quote: "<i>Although there was some behaviour that was clearly on the other side of the line, the regulators also made clear that lots of the practices involved were not intrinsically criminal; this was an investigation into a grey area, not a straightforward case of lying. Of course, the industry has less than zero claim to the benefit of anyone’s doubt, and people will be instantly suspicious of claims that “it’s more complicated than that”, so maybe I can explain what went on in the FX market through the medium of a series of examples...</i>"
One SEC commissioner has issued a "Dissenting Statement" as she was furious that the SEC has made a mockery of "recidivist criminal behavior" by banks<p><a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/statement/stein-waivers-granted-dissenting-statement.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.sec.gov/news/statement/stein-waivers-granted-dis...</a>
Increased regulation in some regards has just driven further consolidation in the banking industry. It also makes it more and more difficult for would-be competitors to try and disrupt these banks.<p>I'm not sure that increased penalties, sending execs to jail, or more regulation will fix banking. If the banks are "too big to jail/fail" then maybe we should make them smaller...
According to the radio this morning, the bankers who did this and the LIBOR fixing <i>are</i> facing jail - it's just that their cases are taking time to progress.<p>I think it's safe to save the scandal for a little longer.
Because - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFDe5kUUyT0" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFDe5kUUyT0</a>
It's really increadible. 3% of one year profits, for multiple year huge scale robery. Not surprising, given the industry track record, but still mind blowing when you think about the big picture.
Most people don't realise that the foreign exchange market was regulated very differently from other financial markets for a long time. Regulators acknowledged that the market was so liquid, transparent and competitive that front-running simply wasn't an issue and, in fact, was an appropriate way to fill client orders without exposing oneself to unnecessary risk.<p>Here's an article from May 2006 about the debate over whether the market needs best execution regulations imposed upon it:
<a href="http://www.euromoney.com/Article/1039431/From-the-archive-Does-FX-need-best-execution-regulations.html?single=true" rel="nofollow">http://www.euromoney.com/Article/1039431/From-the-archive-Do...</a>
This article is bullshit. People are going to jail.
<a href="http://rt.com/uk/193872-london-banker-libor-guilty/" rel="nofollow">http://rt.com/uk/193872-london-banker-libor-guilty/</a>
It's also interesting how the stocks of UBS, Barclays and RBS immediately rose despite a hefty $5.8 billion in fines. Which in practice aren't actually paid by the banks, it's the shareholders, taxpayers (through bailouts) and customers (through higher fees) who end up paying for this.
Even before the 2008 financial crisis, these behaviors were happening.<p>Unchecked, cheating by bankers distorts the market equilibrium and creates a bubble. The easiest example to see/understand for me is the pretend real-estate value on banks' books during the housing/mortgage bubble.<p>We had a chance to deflate the bubble completely, but by failing to prosecute the individuals, we only did it partially. Without criminal prosecutions, this is going to happen again soon.<p>With criminal prosecutions it would still happen again, but we would be insulated/innoculated for at least one generation of bankers and bank managers.<p>We had an opportunity at that time to
Is there some way of incentivising prosecutors to focus their efforts on the biggest problems?<p>For example, the prosecution of Aaron Swartz seemed gratuitously disproportionate.
The total costs of keeping everyone out of prison:<p><a href="http://i.imgur.com/16KcuHu.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/16KcuHu.jpg</a>
For some reason, Bloomberg seemed amazed that the public yawned at the guilty plea:<p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-20/once-unthinkable-criminal-pleas-by-u-s-banks-get-investor-meh-" rel="nofollow">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-20/once-unthi...</a><p>Quote: "For all the muted response to Wednesday’s news, Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s Greg Donaldson expressed concern that criminal charges may now become routine. “Once you cross that line and admit you’ve done something bad, you open up Pandora’s box,” said Donaldson, chairman of the Evansville, Indiana-based firm that manages about $1.1 billion. “This settlement just moved the goal post.”<p>If convictions become too commonplace, the government may have to pursue even tougher penalties. "<p>No wonder the public yawns at this though. Here's Zerohedge listing all confirmed rigged markets:<p>Libor - interest rates: <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/shocking-details-barclays-epic-lie-bor-fraud-duuuude%E2%80%A6whats-ur-guys-345-3m-fix%E2%80%A6tell-him-get-it" rel="nofollow">http://www.zerohedge.com/news/shocking-details-barclays-epic...</a><p>ISDAfix - swaps: <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-04-14/banks-drop-off-isdafix-panel-amid-rate-rigging-probes" rel="nofollow">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-04-14/banks-drop...</a><p>Platts - oil prices: <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-09/libor-gate-comes-crude-total-exposes-price-fixing-energy-market" rel="nofollow">http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-09/libor-gate-comes-cr...</a><p>JP Morgan / BP - FX: <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-30/rigging-triangle-exposed-jpmorgan-british-petroleum-bank-england-cartel-full-frontal" rel="nofollow">http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-30/rigging-triangle-ex...</a><p>WM/Reuters - FX: <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-06-11/wmreuters-busted-latest-market-rigging-and-collusion-scandal-foreign-exchange" rel="nofollow">http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-06-11/wmreuters-busted-la...</a><p>High-Frequency Trading - equities: <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-06-11/hft-stock-manipulation-action" rel="nofollow">http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-06-11/hft-stock-manipulat...</a><p>UBS - gold: <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-11-09/another-conspiracy-theory-bites-dust-ubs-settles-over-gold-rigging-many-more-banks-f" rel="nofollow">http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-11-09/another-conspiracy-...</a>
One law and process for the biggest banks and another law and process for everyone else. That poor sucker currently rotting in a London jail for allegedly being the cause of a flash crash probably wishes he had worked for a big bank.<p>It is a farce to call this a criminal act when waivers remove all punishment beyond a fine.
How about we ban anti-finance hate articles like this from hacker news?<p>Certainly, the intent of these is not to spur in-depth intelligent conversation.