Tom Burroughes
LondonGroup Editor
28 June 2012
Daily News Analysis
Barclays yesterday picked up the unwanted record for the biggest fine - £59.5 million ($92.5 million) - ever imposed by the UK financial regulator, for misconduct relating to how key interbank interest rates were set. The fine formed part of a £290 million penalty imposed by the UK and US authorities.
The Financial Services Authority fined the UK-listed group for what it called “misconduct relating to the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (EURIBOR).”
Robert Diamond, the bank’s CEO, said he and a group of his senior colleagues will forgo any annual bonus this year.
The FSA said that it is pursuing a number of other cross-border investigations into this area of interbank rates, but did not disclose any names of institutions involved. Media reports today speculated on whether other big banking groups around the world were involved.
Besides the FSA fine, the rest of the £290 million penalty came from a non-prosecution agreement with the US Department of Justice and a settlement with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Barclays co-operated fully during the FSA’s investigation, the FSA said, and the bank settled at an early stage, obtaining a 30 per cent discount; otherwise, it would have been fined £85 million.
