Royal Bank of Scotland fined US$612m for rate rigging
Hong Kong regulator to impose new rules to prevent illegal fixing of local interbank lending rates of the kind uncovered in London
Royal Bank of Scotland is to pay US$612 million in fines to regulators in the United States and Britain for rigging interbank lending rates, the kind of market manipulation the Hong Kong Monetary Authority sought to stave off yesterday by unveiling new measures in setting rates in the city.
More than a dozen traders at RBS offices in London, Singapore and Tokyo manipulated the London interbank offered rate, which is used to price trillions of dollars worth of loans, from at least 2006 until 2010.
Britain's financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), said at least 21 people from RBS were involved in rate rigging.
The lender will pay US$325 million to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, US$150 million to the US Department of Justice and US$137 million to the FSA, the commission said.
RBS Securities Japan has agreed to enter a plea of guilty to one count of wire fraud relating to yen Libor, the British bank said.
RBS chairman Philip Hampton said: "This is a sad day for RBS, but also an important one in continuing to put right the mistakes of the past."
Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank suspended five traders in Frankfurt amid an internal probe into alleged attempts to rig interbank lending rates, said a person familiar with the matter. The bank declined to say whether it had suspended any employees.
