Top lenders fined nearly $6b

Penalties reflect broader effort by the authorities to tackle financial misconduct

US and British regulators fined six major global banks a total of nearly $6 billion between them on Wednesday for rigging the foreign exchange market and Libor interest rates.

They said forex traders from the banks had met in online chatroom groups, one brazenly named "the Cartel" and another "Mafia", to set rates that cheated customers while adding to their own profits.