BANK bosses whose currency traders were caught red-handed fiddling the City roulette wheel were told to cough up £2 billion of fines yesterday.

British-based HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland were among the five institutions fined by the Financial Conduct Authority and US regulator the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The pair have been told to cough up £792 million after investigators shone a light onto shadowy dealings in the City and revealed the boy-ish world of groups who dubbed themselves “The A-Team,” “The 3 Musketeers,” and “1 Team, 1 Dream.”

Deploying back-patting banter such as “nice job gents” and “well done lads” a collection of currency traders teamed up via online chat rooms to force up prices for buyers with the aim of maximising their banks’ profits and their own bonuses.

Investigators said the scam operated from 2008 to October 2013, a full year after City institutions including RBS were fined hundreds of millions after traders illegally “manipulated” interbank lending rates — known as Libor — to turn a fat profit.

The banks sought to distance themselves from the latest scam, said to have gone on for at least five years, as the work of a few bad apples.

RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton said the bank “condemns the actions of those employees responsible for this misconduct.”

Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls also leapt to the defence of banks for their “vital role” in the economy but accused the government of failing to ensure proper regulation over the sector.