Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of changing the criminal law to allow sanctions for the misconduct of financial traders identified as having manipulated the foreign exchange market.

The Government is committed to taking action to ensure that the criminal regime for financial market abuse is strong and robust. In September 2014 the Government consulted on whether the regulatory regime put in place for LIBOR should be extended to seven other major benchmarks, based on recommendations from the Fair and Effective Markets Review. This regime includes the criminal offence of manipulating a ‘relevant benchmark’ either by making misleading statements or by creating a false or misleading impression of the value of investments that could affect such a benchmark. The list of benchmarks included the dominant benchmark for the foreign exchange market, WM/Reuters 4pm London Closing Spot Rate. The Government will announce its response to this consultation shortly.