In a case involving FX manipulation, the banks' appeal was dismissed.

On Friday, the Competition Appeal Court overturned a Competition Tribunal judgment that partially sided with 17 banks named in a rand-dollar currency manipulation dispute.The banks' request to have the recommendation against them annulled was earlier denied by the Tribunal, but the Commission was directed to redraft its charge sheet within 40 days.Initially, the Commission requested that the Tribunal issue an order declaring that the banks had violated the Competition Act. It also requested an order making the banks accountable for an administrative penalty of 10% of their yearly turnover.

The Competition Commission must now file a fresh charge sheet within 40 days to replace all prior affidavits, detailing the facts on which it bases its allegations that the alleged behavior by the banks implicated would have “direct or immediate, and substantial effect in South Africa.” The Commission must now limit its case to a single, overarching conspiracy, and it is free to allege that this is based on “an agreement, arrangement, or coordinated conduct.” In addition, the new document must state the facts on which the Commission bases its claim that the banks and the Tribunal's jurisdiction are connected adequately. It has also been told that paragraphs alluding to a JP Morgan business must be removed from its referral. The issue dates back to 2017, when the Commission brought to the Tribunal a collusion case involving 17 banks. The Commission has been looking into price fixing and market allocation in the trading of foreign currency pairings involving the rand since April 2015.The Commission looked at three domestic banks; Absa, Standard Bank, and Investec, as Reports has reported. Bank of America Merrill Lynch International, BNP Paribas, JP Morgan Chase & Co, JP Morgan Chase Bank, Standard New York Securities, HSBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Credit Suisse Group, Commerzbank, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Nomura International, Macquarie Bank, Citibank, Barclays Capital, and Barclays Bank were among the other 14 banks under investigation.

According to Bloomberg, Citibank agreed to pay an R69.5 million fine in the past, but Absa – which apologised for its role and pledged to assist the regulator with its probe – was not penalised. Between 2007 and 2013, Standard Chartered pleaded guilty to currency manipulation. Reports at the time that the bank had reached an arrangement with the New York State Department of Financial Services to pay $40 million (about R530 million). The Constitutional Court overturned an earlier judgment by the CAC requiring the Commission to grant access to its investigation documents before the banks in the collusion case answered the case against them, according to reports.