The largest bank of the United States, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), has agreed to pay up to $99.5 million against the anti-trust case, which holds the bank responsible for rigging prices at the foreign exchange market. It is important to consider that the bank agreed to pay up to $1 billion under civil penalties last year.
JPMorgan and the 12 other primary banks facing similar lawsuits have become a target of nationwide protest and legal actions. All of these banks are said to have manipulated the market prices with private chat rooms and emails. It is important to consider that together these banks control up to 84 percent of the world’s currency trading. According to experts, the settlement from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) could serve as a benchmark for other banks and their corresponding legal penalties.
The other financial institutions accused for currency rigging includes Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), BNP Paribas SA (EPA:BNP), Credit Suisse Group AG (ADR) (NYSE:CS), Barclays PLC (ADR) (NYSE:BCS), Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), Deutsche Bank AG (USA) (NYSE:DB), HSBC Holdings plc (ADR) (NYSE:HSBC), Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (NYSE:RBS), and UBS AG.
Even after the announcement of the $99.5 million penalty, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) didn’t accept the felony. Five of these financial institutions have paid penalties for the settlement of regulatory charges.
Earlier this month, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) announced its fourth quarter 2014 financial results with net revenues of $23.6 billion and net income of $4.9 billion. In 2014, the bank earned net income of $21.8 billion over net revenues of $97.9 billion, which is much higher against 2013 net income of $17.9 billion over revenues of $99.8 billion.
The shares of JPMorgan are trading at $54.38 with current P/E ratio of 10.27.
This article has been written by Prakash Pandey.
