ZURICH—Competition authorities in Switzerland said Monday that they are investigating seven big banks over the possible manipulation of the prices of gold, silver and other precious metals.

The Swiss competition commission said it was opening an investigation into possible collusion between Switzerland's UBS Group AG and Julius Baer Group AG along with foreign banks Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC, Barclays, Morgan Stanley and Mitsui.

The authority said it has reason to believe that there were possible illegal competition agreements between the banks to coordinate prices, namely the bid ask-spread in the precious metals including gold, silver, platinum and palladium.

The investigation is expected to be completed in either 2016 or 2017, said Patrik Ducrey, director of the Swiss competition commission. He declined to disclose the value of the trades involved in the suspected collusion, or how it came to light.

Banks found to have flouted Switzerland's competition laws could be fined, with the maximum sanction available being 10% of revenue.

Write to John Revill at john.revill@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 28, 2015 02:15 ET (06:15 GMT)

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