U.S. Fed fines HSBC 175 mln USD for unsafe forex trading

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Friday that it had fined global banking giant HSBC Holdings 175 million U.S. dollars for its unsafe and unsound foreign exchange trading business.

According to a statement of Fed, the HSBC had deficiencies in its oversight and internal controls of its forex traders.

"The firm failed to detect and address its traders misusing confidential customer information, as well as using electronic chatrooms to communicate with competitors about their trading positions," said the Fed in the statement.

The Fed has been strengthening supervision over banks' forex trading in recent years. It has given out penalties to big banks, such as Deutsche Bank, and Barclays.