EU Commission fines banks 1.7 billion euros for benchmark rigging

EU antitrust regulators vowed to keep investigating rate- rigging on Wednesday as they slapped a record 1.7 billion euro (1.4 billion pounds) penalty on six financial institutions including Deutsche Bank, RBS and JPMorgan.

The fines by the Commission, which along with authorities around the globe has been examining the manipulation of London interbank offered rate (Libor) and its euro equivalent Euribor, takes the tally of penalties related to the scandal to almost $6 billion (3 billion pounds).

Confirming what a source familiar with the matter had previously told Reuters, EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said he had been shocked at the scale of the scam and was sending a clear message that Brussels would fight and impose sanctions on cartels.

Deutsche Bank, which has yet to be fined by U.S. and UK regulators as part of separate investigations into benchmark interest-rate fixing, received the highest fine of 725.4 million euros.

Germany's largest lender and RBS were fined for their involvement in both the Euribor and Libor cartels.
Also fined were JPMorgan and Citigroup, France's Societe Generale and UK-based brokerage RP Martin.