Deutsche Bank to Pay $2.5 Billion Fine to Settle Rate-Rigging Case
Deutsche Bank will pay a $2.5 billion penalty to United States and British authorities to settle accusations that it helped manipulate the benchmarks used to set interest rates on trillions of dollars in mortgages, student loans, credit cards and other debt, American and British officials said on Thursday.
The penalty is by far the largest in a yearslong investigation into whether large banks conspired to set the price of debt in ways that would be profitable for them. Until Thursday, the largest fine was the $1.5 billion the Swiss bank UBS agreed to pay in 2012.
The fixing of interest rates by Deutsche Bank employees in London and Frankfurt from 2005 to 2009 was deliberate and the employees were aware that it was wrong, said Benjamin M. Lawsky, the New York State superintendent of financial services.
“Deutsche Bank employees engaged in a widespread effort to manipulate benchmark interest rates for financial gain,” Mr. Lawsky said in a statement on Thursday.
“Markets do not just manipulate themselves,” he added. “It takes deliberate wrongdoing by individuals.”
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/business/dealbook/deutsche-bank-settlement-rates.html?emc=edit_na_20150423
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