HOLD-Barclays fined $2.4 bln for FX manipulation, to fire 8 staff

LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) - Barclays Plc (LSE: BARC.L - news) pleaded guilty to a U.S. criminal charge and was fined $2.4 billion by U.S. and British authorities on Wednesday for manipulating foreign exchange rates.

The British bank also agreed to fire eight employees as a result of the settlement, according to the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).

The bank will pay $710 million to the U.S. Department of Justice, $485 million to the NYDFS, $400 million to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and $342 to the U.S. Federal Reserve. It was also fined a record 284 million pounds, or $441 million, by Britain's Financial Conduct Authority.

Barclays was one of five banks to be fined a total of $5.7 billion by authorities on Wednesday. Its fine was far higher than the other banks, as it did not take part in a group settlement in November, because it wanted to include the powerful NYDFS in its settlement.

Barclays had set aside $3.2 billion for potential fines related to past FX trading. It could face further punishment related to electronic systems used in FX trading, which the NYDFS said it will continue to investigate.

Benjamin Lawsky, New York superintendent of financial services, said a number of Barclays employees involved in the misconduct were no longer employed by the bank and four were fired last month, including its global head of FX spot trading in London and a director on the FX spot trading desk in New (KOSDAQ: 160550.KQ - news) York.

Lawsky ordered the bank to fire another four staff who it still employed, including a vice president on the emerging markets trading desk in New York and two directors on the FX spot trading desk in New York. (Reporting by Steve Slater; Editing by Kirstin Ridley)