UK: Barclays reaches $100 million Libor settlement

Barclays has reached a $100 million multi-state settlement over charges that it manipulated the Libor and Euribor interest rate benchmarks, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said on Monday.

The settlement with 44 states marks the latest in a series of enforcement actions the bank has faced in connection with Libor manipulation.

Barclays is the first of several banks under investigation by state attorneys general to reach a settlement, Schneiderman said in a statement, adding that the bank cooperated with the multi-state probe.

He said government entities and non-profits were “defrauded of millions” when they entered into swap contracts with Barclays as a result of the rate-rigging.

In 2012, Barclays reached a $453 million agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and British authorities to settle parallel charges.

As part of its agreement with the Justice Department, Barclays admitted to wrongdoing that occurred between August 2005 and May 2008, when some of its traders called their counterparts at competing institutions and colluded to submit Libor rates that benefited their trading positions.

“Barclays is pleased to have resolved the state attorneys’ general investigation into Barclays’ legacy LIBOR- and Euribor-related activities,” a Barclays spokesman said.

Full Content: The Wall Street Journal

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