Broker widening spreads on JPY

So I just got an email from my broker saying they have no choice but to widen the spreads on all pairs involving the yen. They claim its because the currency hasnt been acting normal.

IS this standard practice or just the broker trying to make a quick buck off of a terrible situation by further ripping their clients?

which broker(s) are you referring to?

No one else has reported anything like that. My guess is your broker does not charge a separate commission, and is looking to collect more profit from these pairs. No self-respecting broker would say a cross is not "acting normal" - there is no "normal" in the spot fx world - as far as a broker is concerned, they just need to profit from the spread they receive from their liquidity provider.

My broker just changed rollover charges on jpy crosses.
Making it very expesive to go long on jpy crosses when you keep them over night.

Everything normal at my broker. In fact the spreads have been less than normal for the last week or so.

The broker is FXCast. The spreads on the USD/YEN were sitting ar 4 pips, then the other day they sent out the email notifying everyone of the following:

due to the unbelievable and shocking events which happen in Japan the last days and still ongoing the markets where the Japanese Yen is involved are not behaving as normal.

Therefore we have to widen the spread of all pairs where the Yen is involved until further notice. Please be aware of this unnormal behaviour and the incalculable reactions of the markets.

I was a bit shocked to see it (I dont trade the yen persoanly) but their spreads have jumped from 4 pips to 15 pips per trade.

I have checked JPY spreads of the broker I trade with (that is not a big company) - they are not changed.

I dare say there is alot of liquidity missing on the yen sell side at the moment. So illiquid markets may cause liquidity providers to shut up shop temporarily, thus effecting retail brokers.

I haven't heard of any legitimate broker doing anything about it yet though. A few scams closed all yen positions and said no more trading yen.

I have noticed that the swiss brokers MIG and ACM have been widening spreads last few days. The majority of other brokers did not widen spreads.

I don't see how they can justify that. Spreads on my ECN account seem normal, even less than usual.

mine is about 0.9-1.4 pip on USD/JPY - last couple of days after the intervention on JPY by central bank and Barclays Capital pulling of liquidity it was pretty hectic, getting hit hard on retail on the 16. but it was normal after an hour of occurring any hectic condition.