Fed rejects effort to overturn industry ban for forex trader

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve announced Tuesday it had rejected a motion to void a $1.2 million fine and industry ban on a former Barclays Plc trader.

The central bank banned and fined Christopher Ashton, the bank's former global head of foreign exchange spot trading, in May. Ashton had been penalized for his role in connection with manipulation of FX pricing benchmarks.

The Fed board charged him with unsafe and unsound practices, saying he used chat rooms to coordinate FX trading and dislcose confidential information to other traders.

(Reporting by Pete SchroederEditing by Chizu Nomiyama)