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EU: Must ‘apologise’ for bias in rate rigging case

By  |  March 12, 2015

European regulators mishandled an ongoing case on alleged interest rate rigging by some of world’s biggest banks and must apologise to France’s Credit Agricole for implying guilt, the EU’s ombudsman said Thursday.

“The new Commission should acknowledge the maladministration that has occurred in this case under the previous Commission, apologise, and make sure that this does not happen again,” said European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly in a statement.

In 2013, banking giants Deutsche Bank, Societe Generale and Royal Bank of Scotland admitted to collusion on Euribor — an interest rate benchmark mark used for a wide range of financial instruments — and suffered total penalties of 1.7 billion euros, an EU record.

But Credit Agricole, HSBC and JPMorgan denied collusion and the investigation continues, handled now by a new commission team that took over from Almunia.

 

Full Content: Bloomberg

 

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