The UK markets watchdog has launched a preliminary investigation into the foreign exchange market after receiving complaints alleging that banks traded ahead of customer orders and attempted to manipulate benchmarks.

英国市场监管机构已对外汇市场展开初步调查，此前有投诉称，有银行在客户下单之前交易，并企图操纵基准。

The Financial Conduct Authority requested information from several banks with large London foreign exchange businesses about their trading, people familiar with the matter said.

知情人士表示，英国金融市场行为监管局(FCA)要求在伦敦从事大规模外汇交易的数家银行提供交易信息。

The two biggest players in the foreign exchange market, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank, with a combined market share of around 30 per cent, are among the institutions that have been asked for information, people familiar with the matter said. But there has been no suggestion that either institution is a target of the investigation, which was first reported by Bloomberg.

知情人士称，其中两家被要求提供信息的机构是花旗集团(Citigroup)和德意志银行(Deutsche Bank)。这两家银行是伦敦外汇市场最大的参与者，合计占到大约30%的市场份额。但没有迹象表明它们是调查目标，这项调查最初是由彭博(Bloomberg)报道的。

The banks approached by the FCA are currently reviewing their trading records and searching instant messages for words that could point to potential manipulation.

FCA联系的这些银行目前正在审查它们的交易记录，并从即时信息记录中搜寻可能表明存在操纵行为的措辞。

An FCA spokesman confirmed the investigation is at a very early stage, but declined to comment further.

一位FCA发言人证实，调查处于非常早期的阶段，但他拒绝进一步置评。