Five banks have adreed to pay $3.3 billion in fines to global regulators to resolve allegations that they attemped to manipulate foreign exchange rates. Affected banks -- Citibank (C), HSBC (HSBC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), RBS (RBS) and UBS(UBS) -- will collectively pay $1.4 billion to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and about £1.1 billion ($1.75 billion) to the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority. The fines are the largest ever imposed by the British regulator, which said it will continue to investigate potential wrongdoing at Barclays (BCS). The $5 trillion currency market is one of the largest in the world. Foreign exchange rates affect the price of imported goods, company earnings and many investments held by pension funds and others. Between 2008 and 2013, lax controls at the banks allowed traders to share confidential information and collude with their counterparts at other institutions in an effort to fix rates and increase profits. The FCA said that the banks had failed to manage "obvious risks," and that traders were allowed to "behave unacceptably." "Ineffective controls at the banks allowed ... traders to put their banks' interests ahead of those of their clients, other market participants and the wider U.K. financial system," the FCA said in a statement. It is possible that the banks will also face criminal charges in both the U.K. and U.S. over attempts to manipulate the rates. While all five banks face more than $600 million in fines, UBS was also penalized by Swiss regulators, and will pay a total of $800 million. Citibank will pay the second largest total fine at $668 million. A separate investigation into the actions of officials at the Bank of England found that no staffers were involved with alleged foreign exchange rigging. However, one official was found to have been aware of potential improper conduct, and failed to raise the issue. The CFTC said that since June 2012, it has imposed penalties of more than $3.34 billion relating to the manipulation of global benchmarks. Source: http://money.cnn.com/