Justice Department may go back on deal not to prosecute UBS: Bloomberg

U.S. Justice Department may reverse its agreement not to prosecute Swiss bank UBS Group AG over manipulation of benchmark interest rates, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

A Justice Department official said in March that banks that have non-prosecution agreements over failures to police transactions for criminal activity could see those deals withdrawn.

UBS, along with four other main banking units, was expected to plead guilty to U.S. criminal charges over manipulation of foreign exchange rates, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.

JPMorgan Chase & Co Citigroup, British banks Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays, and UBS had been expected to resolve forex-rigging investigations by the U.S. Justice Department later this month.

A representative from the Justice Department was not immediately available for comment.

A spokesman for UBS declined to comment on the report.

In first-quarter earnings earlier this month, UBS lowered its litigation reserves to 2.7 billion Swiss francs ($2.91 billion) from 3.05 billion francs.

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