New York : German banking giant Deutsche Bank will pay $2.5 bon in fines after admitting its guilt in a multi-bank conspiracy to rig LIBOR interest rates, US and British authorities said today.
“Deutsche Bank secretly conspired with its competitors to rig the benchmark interest rates at the heart of the global financial system,” said US Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Justice Department’s antitrust division.
“Deutsche Bank’s misconduct not only harmed its unsuspecting counterparties, it undermined the integrity and the competitiveness of financial markets everywhere.”
Germany’s biggest bank agreed to pay the record fine for rigging the London InterBank Offered Rate, used to peg millions of interest rate-sensitive contracts and loans around the world, from at least 2003-2011 to boost trading positions, officials said.
To avoid prosecution, Deutsche Bank agreed to plead guilty to a US criminal charge of wire fraud and pay a USD 775 million penalty to the Justice Department.
In addition, Deutsche Bank will pay USD 800 million to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, USD 600 million to the New York Department of Financial Services and USD 344 million to Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority.