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Deutsche Bank to pay USD 2.5 bln for manipulation

NEW YORK, April 24 (KUNA) -- New York Department for Financial Services (NYDFS) has announced that the DB Group Services (a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank) will pay USD 2.5 billion over interest rate manipulation.
The NYDFS said in a press release late Thursday that the bank is to terminate and ban individual employees who engaged in misconduct, and install an independent monitor for New York Banking Law violations in connection with the manipulation of the benchmark interest rates.
The overall USD 2.5 billion penalty includes USD 600 million to the NYDFS, USD 800 million to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), USD 775 million to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), and approximately USD 340 million to the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky noted that "Deutsche Bank employees engaged in a widespread effort to manipulate benchmark interest rates for financial gain." A number of the employees involved in misconduct have already left the bank, he said, yet those that remain are "being terminated or banned from the New York banking system." The manipulation of the benchmark interest rates included the London Interbank Offered Bank ("LIBOR"), the Euro Interbank Offered Rate ("EURIBOR") and Euroyen Tokyo Interbank Offered Rate ("TIBOR") (collectively, "IBOR").
The US Department of Justice confirmed today that the bank is the sixth major financial institution that has admitted its misconduct in "this wide-ranging criminal investigation, and today's criminal resolution represents the largest penalty to date in the LIBOR investigation." The Department has previously announced resolutions with five other banks for their role in manipulation of benchmark interest rates, including Barclay's Bank PLC, UBS AG, the Royal Bank of Scotland plc, Lloyds Banking Group and others.
London Interbank Offered Rate or Libor is a leading benchmark interest rate used in financial products and transactions around the world. (end) mao.ibi