Reports: Barclays bank suspends 6 in rigging probe

LONDON (AP) Barclays bank has suspended six traders amid an investigation into whether international currency markets were rigged, the BBC, the Financial Times and other outlets reported Saturday.

Barclays, Britain's second-largest bank, revealed on Wednesday that it was the subject of an investigation by regulators in Britain and other countries over "possible attempts to manipulate certain benchmark currency exchange rates."

The bank said it was "reviewing its foreign exchange trading covering a several year period through August 2013 and is cooperating with the relevant authorities."

Barclays spokeswoman Aurelie Leonard declined to comment Saturday on reports that traders had been suspended.

Other banks including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Switzerland's UBS have also said they are being investigated over currency trading, and Britain's RBS suspended two traders on Thursday in the same investigation.

The investigation is the latest bad news for Barclays, which overhauled its top management after being fined $453 million for manipulating a key global interest rate and other wrongdoing.

The international currency-trading investigation has echoes of inquiries into manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, or LIBOR, which underpins trillions of dollars in transactions around the world. The financial world was shaken when it emerged that banks including Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and UBS were submitting false data to gain market advantages.