Rate rigging: EU to levy record S$2.5b fine on 6 banks

[CityFarmer]

Fooling around in real world, will cost you billion...

Rate rigging: EU to levy record S$2.5b fine on 6 banks

BRUSSELS — A number of finance firms, including Royal Bank of Scotland and Rabobank face billions of euros in fines next month from European Union regulators for colluding on global benchmark interest rates, reinforcing Brussels’ hard line on the sector after the financial crisis.

EU antitrust chief Joaquin Almunia is set to unveil a record fine of at least €1.5 billion (S$2.5 billion) on six banks, including Barclays and RBS, for rigging the yen London inter-bank offered rate (Libor) interest rate benchmark, a banking source said yesterday (Nov 6).

In addition to the yen Libor fines, likely to be the biggest so far from Brussels, Almunia will also penalise another group of banks for operating as a cartel in a separate case involving the rigging of the Euribor benchmark interest rate, reported by Reuters on Tuesday.

Fines in the two cases could run to billions of euros.
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http://www.todayonline.com/business/rate...ne-6-banks

[weijian]

Thought this is pretty ironic.

Meet Uncle Sam, Your Partner in Crime

The news leaked over the weekend: Hedge-fund baron Steve Cohen and SAC Capital Advisors were about to pay a monster fine for a decades worth of insider trading and failed supervision of traders. Some prefer the term “expert networks,” but – po-TAY-to, po-TAH-to.

The rules have changed, and so have the penalties. The lessons of the post-crisis era are clear:

•Laws are made to be broken
•Steal Big or don’t bother.
•Always reserve 10 percent of your criminal proceeds for your newest partner, Uncle Sam, to settle all claims, both civil and criminal.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-05...crime.html