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Barclays settles $100mn claim with US states over Libor scandal

Thursday, 11 August 2016 12:37 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 11 August 2016 9:03 AM ]

Barclays bank has reached $100 million US settlement over Libor rigging scandal.

Barclays, a British multinational banking and financial services company, shells out a $100 million settlement with more than 40 US states over claims that it rigged the Libor rate system.

The settlement with 43 US states and the District of Columbia was announced by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The additional sum comes on top of the $453 million fine Barclays received four years ago by UK regulators.

Barclays said it was "pleased" to have settled this latest legal threat in the US.

“We believe this settlement is in the best interests of our shareholders and clients, and allows us to continue to focus on the future and serve our clients,” the bank said.

Schneiderman said government entities and not-for-profit organisations were defrauded because they were unaware that Barclays and other financial institutions were manipulating the rate, which is used to price an estimated $350 trillion of financial products.

“As a result of Barclays’s misconduct, government entities and not-for-profits were defrauded of funds that otherwise could have been used to benefit the people of New York.”

The Libor scandal erupted in 2012 when Barclays bank was fined $453 million by British and US regulators over the manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) and the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor) between 2005 and 2009.

A series of major banks around the world have also been caught up in the Libor scandal. Libor is a widely-used interest rate calculated through submissions of interest rates. It is administrated by the British Bankers Association (BBA).

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