Royal Bank of Scotland hit with $50 mn fine for manipulating interest rates

HARTFORD: The Royal Bank of Scotland was fined $50 million by a federal judge in the state of Connecticut Monday, part of more than $600 million in penalties announced last year for manipulating interest rates.

The bank's subsidiary, RBS Securities Japan Limited, agreed to pay the fine last year as part of a plea agreement and a judge in US District Court in Hartford approved the penalty on Monday. The subsidiary pleaded guilty last April to wire fraud and admitted its role in manipulating the Japanese Yen London interbank offered rate, or LIBOR. That's the rate that banks use to lend money to each other and provides the basis for trillions of dollars in contracts around the world.

US and UK regulators and authorities fined RBS $612 million, including the latest $50 million fine, for rate-rigging.

The investigations found wrongdoing by about 20 RBS traders, according to court papers.

Prosecutors and the company say those responsible have left the company and others were disciplined. RBS was one of several banks fined for manipulating LIBOR.

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"Today's sentencing of RBS is an important reminder of the significant consequences facing banks that deliberately manipulate financial benchmark rates, and it represents one of the numerous enforcement actions taken by the Justice Department in our ongoing LIBOR investigation," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman.

RBS provided "extensive and highly valuable cooperation" during the investigation, according to sentencing papers filed by the company and prosecutors. The resolution also required RBS to adopt stringent internal controls and compliance measures to prevent and detect any possible future misconduct.