HSBC, JPMorgan, Credit Agricole charged with rigging

BRUSSELS: European Union anti-trust regulators charged Europes biggest bank HSBC, US peer JPMorgan and Frances Credit Agricole with rigging financial benchmarks linked to the euro, exposing them to potential fines.

The European Commission also said it would charge broker ICAP soon for suspected manipulation of the yen Libor financial benchmark.

US and European regulators have so far handed down some US$6bil in fines to 10 banks and brokerages for rigging the London interbank offered rate and its euro cousin Euribor while prosecutors have also charged 16 men with fraud-related offences.

The Commission has concerns that the three banks may have taken part in a collusive scheme which aimed at distorting the normal course of pricing components for euro interest rate derivatives, the EU competition authority said.

The three banks and ICAP, which refused to settle the case in December, could face penalties of up to 10% of their global turnover if found guilty of breaching EU antitrust rules.

JPMorgan said the EU charges were without merit and that it would defend itself while Credit Agricole said it would examine the charge sheet. HSBC said it would defend itself vigorously. ICAP could not immediately be reached for comment.

In December, a record 1.7 billion euro (US$2.3bil) fine was levied on six banks including Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Citigroup for similar offences. The lenders settled their charges and received a 10% cut in their fines. In the coming days or weeks, we will probably issue a new statement of objections against the broker (ICAP), European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told a news conference. He also said regulators have yet to decide on the next step of an ongoing investigation into suspected rigging and collusion in the trillion-dollar foreign exchange market, the worlds biggest marketplace.

We received lots of information and we are looking into this information...We are not yet at this moment when I can announce steps of this case, he said. Almunia can choose to open a formal investigation into the case or keep things under wraps if enough banks decide to settle any charges and only announce a decision at the end. Reuters

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HSBC, JPMorgan, Credit Agricole charged with rigging

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