Financial Conduct Authority's 284.4m penalty comes amid $6bn in fines for six banks for foreign exchange manipulation.

Barclays has been handed the biggest UK bank fine in history as six banks were ordered to pay $6bn (3.9bn) over manipulating the foreign exchange markets.

The Financial Conduct Authority ordered Barclays to pay 284.4m as part of the British bank's 1.5bn settlement with the City watchdog and four US regulators. Royal Bank of Scotland, JP Morgan, UBS, Citigroup and Bank of America were also fined by the Federal Reserve, while all but Bank of America were forced to plead guilty to criminal charges and penalised by the US Department of Justice.

Regulators detailed how traders at the banks colluded to rig euro-dollar currency benchmarks, profiting at the expense of customers.

www.telegraph.co.uk

From the viewpoint of a UK-based regulated firm, identify and critically evaluate what actions could have been taken by the banks in order to have avoided committing market abuse and manipulation.

Include relevant regulatory and legislative obligations within your response.

(25 marks)