|
COMCO began its investigation in December 2012, after Barclays
Plc became the first bank to settle allegations it had attempted
to manipulate the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), paying
a $450 million fine to U.S. and UK authorities.
The COMCO penalties announced on Wednesday, the largest of which
was a 33.9 million franc fine for JPMorgan Chase & Co, are
relatively small compared to other sanctions doled out in
rate-rigging cases.
But they are a further sign of the collusion which took place in
the setting of interest rate derivatives, used by banks and
companies to manage the risk of interest rates fluctuations.
COMCO said several banks had participated in cartels over Swiss
franc LIBOR, the bid-ask spread on Swiss franc interest rate
derivatives, Yen LIBOR, Euroyen TIBOR and EURIBOR.
The JPMorgan fine came after COMCO concluded it operated a
bilateral cartel with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) with the aim
of influencing the Swiss franc LIBOR benchmark between March
2008 and July 2009, COMCO said in a statement.
RBS received full immunity for revealing the existence of the
cartel to the COMCO.
Barclays was fined 29.8 million francs for participating in a
cartel in euro interest rate derivatives, COMCO said.
Proceeding are ongoing against BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole,
HSBC, JPMorgan and Rabobank over the euro interest rate cartel,
COMCO said.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
