Commission charges more banks over rate-rigging

Joaquín Almunia has sent a statement of objections to Crédit Agricole, HSBC and JPMorgan accusing them of colluding to fix the EURIBOR, a key global benchmark. Seven banks that pleaded guilty to similar charges have already been fined €1.7bn.

The European Commission today (20 May) charged three major global banks with breaching European Union competition rules by manipulating a benchmark used as a basis for mortgages, derivatives and other transactions worth trillions of euros.

Crédit Agricole, HSBC and JPMorgan are accused of making false and self-serving submissions to the Euro Interbank Offered Rate, or EURIBOR.

Seven banks have already pleaded guilty in the same investigation, which is examining submissions to the EURIBOR and the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR. Joaquín Almunia, the European commissioner for competition, hit them with fines totaling €1.7 billion in December, the largest cartel fine to be handed down by the Commission, which included a discount for settling the case. Deutsche Bank received a fine of €725.4 million.

Banks including Barclays and Rabobank have already paid fines worth more than €2bn in the UK and the United States, admitting that their traders made fake submissions to LIBOR in order to improve their bank’s return from other investments which were indexed on the LIBOR.

The Commission’s competition department is examining instances where traders from different banks co-ordinated their conduct.

The Commission has also put forward a proposal to regulate benchmarks and indexes to prevent such conduct from re-occurring. The proposal is currently being debated by MEPs and member states.

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