LONDON – Bank of New York Mellon terminated a currency trader in London earlier this year for violating its code of conduct after an internal review of its foreign exchange operations, according to a person briefed on the matter.
Jon Smailes, who worked as a senior trader on the bank’s spot currency trading desk in London, left the company in May, according to the person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Several factors, including a breach of the bank’s code of conduct, factored into his dismissal, the person said.
“We can’t comment on internal matters involving individual employees,” Bank of New York Mellon said on Wednesday.
Mr. Smailes, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, could not be located for comment on Wednesday.
The bank, like many of its competitors, conducted an internal review of its operations after regulators last year began examining possible collusion among currency traders seeking to manipulate the $5-trillion-a-day currency markets – namely benchmark currency rates.
This month, some of the world’s largest banks, including HSBC, Citigroup, UBS and JPMorgan Chase, agreed to pay a combined $4.25 billion to settle inquiries by regulators in the United States, Britain and Switzerland. Regulators accused the banks of conspiring to manipulate foreign currency markets.
Bank of New York Mellon, a small player in currency trading, wasn’t among those banks.
The bank informed the relevant regulators of the findings of its internal review and of the dismissal of Mr. Smailes, the person said.
The Wall Street Journal reported the dismissal of Mr. Smailes earlier on Wednesday.
About 30 traders at various financial institutions have been suspended or fired after internal inquiries.
Last week, Goldman Sachs dismissed a currency trader who previously worked at HSBC because of his ties to the inquiry into potential manipulation of benchmark currency rates.
Goldman Sachs was not among the banks that settled this month, but has been cooperating with information requests from regulators reviewing the foreign exchange market.