“In February 2017, the Competition Commission referred a number of banks – including Investec, Standard Bank and Absa – to the Competition Tribunal for price fixing involving the rand.The commission ultimately brought 28 banks under investigation – including Nedbank and FirstRand – in what it is calling the “Forex Cartel” case.
The commission found that from at least 2007, the banks had a general agreement to collude on prices for bids, offers and bid-offer spreads for the spot trades in relation to currency trading involving the rand/dollar currency pair.
The manipulation impacted the exchange rate of the South African Rand, which in turn affected various parts of the South African economy, including imports and exports, foreign direct investment, public and private debt, and company balance sheets, with the attendant implications for the price of goods and services and financial assets.
All the banks named in the findings lodged some objection or application against the commission – some contending that the commission lacked jurisdiction, and others filing various exceptions, objections, applications for dismissal and strikeouts.”