Swiss bank fined $1.5bn for rate rigging

DHAKA: Swiss banking giant UBS has agreed to pay $1.5bn to US, UK and Swiss regulators for attempting to manipulate the Libor inter-bank lending rate.

It becomes the second major bank to be fined over Libor after Barclays was ordered to pay $450m to UK and US authorities in the summer.

Regulators worldwide are investigating a number of banks for rigging Libor, reports the BBC.

Libor tracks the average rate at which the major international banks based in London lend money to each other.

It is the second-largest set of fines imposed on a bank to date, after the $1.9bn that HSBC agreed to pay US authorities earlier this month to settle allegations of money-laundering.

The bank has also agreed to admit to committing wire fraud through its Tokyo office in the case of manipulating Libor rates for loans denominated in Japanese yen, among others.

It said it would seek a non-prosecution agreement with the DoJ covering the rest of the bank`s misbehaviour.

BDST: 1441 HRS, DEC 19, 2012
Edited by Robab Rosan, Cultural Affairs Editor, eic@banglanews24.com