A former HSBC executive has been arrested in London on suspicion of involvement in a currency exchange fraud.
Stuart Scott, the bank's ex-head of cash trading for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, was detained following an extradition request by the US Department of Justice.
He was charged with rigging markets in July last year along with Mark Johnson, a Briton who was HSBC's global head of foreign exchange cash trading.
But while Mr Johnson was arrested in New York, Mr Scott, 44, remained free at home in London and prosecutors have been attempting to bring him to the US to face charges.
He appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, according to a papers filed by acting US attorney Bridget Rohde.
Anne Davies, a lawyer at Gunnercooke who is representing Scott, said: "Our client strongly denies the allegations. Given there are ongoing proceedings it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."
HSBC said Scott left the bank in 2014.
"We are unable to comment further on personnel issues or matters which are the subject of ongoing legal proceedings," a spokeswoman added.
Scott and Johnson are believed to be the first people to face US criminal charges arising from an investigation into foreign-exchange rigging at banks.
The inquiry led to four banks pleading guilty to conspiring to manipulate currency prices in the United States. HSBC was not among those banks, but in 2014 agreed to pay $618 million (£478 million) to resolve related probes by US and British regulators.
Johnson pleaded not guilty to a charge of wire fraud and conspiracy last August.
Prosecutors allege Johnson and Scott in 2011 misused information provided by a client that hired HSBC to convert $3.5 billion to British pounds in connection with a planned sale of the client's foreign subsidiaries.
They then used their insider knowledge to trade ahead of the transaction, causing a spike in the price of the currency that hurt HSBC's client, Cairn Energy Plc, it is claimed.
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In the print edition of the Evening Standard we stated "HSBC paid a fine of $4.3 billion (£3.3 billion) three years ago for weak controls and systems that allowed forex rigging to occur." This was in fact an industry-wide figure. We are happy to clarify this.
