Royal Bank of Scotland could reach a settlement with authorities over the alleged rigging of FX markets in the next six to 12 months as first reported by Bloomberg, Chief Executive Officer Ross McEwan said.
The two biggest litigation issues facing Britain’s largest state-owned lender are an investigation into currency rigging and the U.S. government probe of the bank’s mortgage-backed securities business, McEwan, 57, told investors on Oct. 6th, according to a transcript provided by Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd.’s Chirantan Barua, who hosted the call.
“I keep saying to my people, we’ve had a very good sunny summer, but I suspect we are in for a bit of a cold winter given that we haven’t had any of the big litigation issues that we know or the big conduct and litigation issues that we know are coming,” McEwan said. “My mind is let’s get on with it.”
The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority said this month it wants to deliver faster justice in its investigation into currency manipulation than it has in probing interest-rate rigging, which RBS was also fined for.
RBS shares dropped after the comments were published, declining as much as 1.4 percent, before trading at 358.8 pence at 2:05 p.m. in London, up 0.1 percent on the day. They have climbed 6.1 percent this year, the only lender to gain among Britain’s five largest banks.
Chris Turner, a London-based spokesman for RBS, declined to comment beyond McEwan’s statements.