UBS is in talks with the US Department of Justice to deal with claims that the Swiss bank manipulated the foreign exchange market, a report said.

UBS is in talks with the US Department of Justice to deal with claims that the Swiss bank manipulated the foreign exchange market, the UK's Financial Times reported, as global authorities push to bring their first cases by the end of the year.

The Zurich-listed lender and wealth management house declined to comment to Family Wealth Report on the matter when contacted yesterday.

The FT report said that if a deal is struck, UBS would become the first bank to settle with the DoJ since it launched a criminal investigation into alleged rigging of rates by traders and salesmen at a number of banks.

The report said UBS, Barclays, Citigroup, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, and the Royal Bank of Scotland have been meeting the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority over a settlement over the regulator’s investigation in to the forex market.

Already, a string of banks have been punished and fined over rigging of interbank interest rate benchmarks such as Libor, in a scandal that has seen firm bolster teams of compliance officers and also rocked trust in financial markets, already damaged by the 2008 financial crisis.