The Swiss Competition Commission has launched an investigation into eight Swiss banks over the alleged manipulation of foreign exchange rates.

The Swiss Competition Commission has launched an investigation into eight Swiss banks over the alleged manipulation of foreign exchange rates.

The watchdog said in a statement that it was examining whether banks had colluded to exchange confidential information to influence foreign exchange benchmarks.

“There are indications that competition agreements for the manipulation of exchange rates have been taken in forex trading between banks,” the commission, also known as WEKO, said.

The banks under investigation are UBS, Credit Suisse, Zurich Cantonal Bank, Bank Julius Baer, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Barclays Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland.

The commission launched a preliminary investigation in September last year after learning about the potential manipulation of foreign exchange rates.

Credit Suisse said in a statement that it was “astonished” at the allegations made by the Swiss Competition Commission and added that it was not the subject of the preliminary investigation carried out by the commission into various banks.

“The press release contains incorrect references to Credit Suisse AG and these allegations are both inappropriate and harmful to our reputation. Credit Suisse AG will cooperate fully with the authorities in this matter,” said Credit Suisse.

Authorities in Europe, Asia and the US are currently investigating allegations of collusion in the manipulation of benchmark currency rates and it is threatening to become more serious than the Libor-rigging scandal.

Last week, UBS suspended six foreign exchange traders across the globe following ongoing internal investigations into the rigging of foreign currency benchmarks by the company.