Brokers have made the surveillance of foreign exchange trading a top priority for 2015, according to the results of a Nasdaq poll. In a separate development, the UK government has confirmed it will from next spring pursue criminal charges against anyone manipulating FX benchmarks.

Smarts, a surveillance and compliance unit of Nasdaq, conducted an in-person poll with brokers during client summits in the autumn. It found that monitoring FX trading and electronic communications - including instant messaging, social media and mobile messaging - topped a list of priorities for next year.