ASIC got most of what it wanted from National Australia Bank and ANZ over rate rigging around the bank bill swap rate from 2010 to 2012. A modest penalty, at A$10 million per bank, is the glaring defect in the outcome for ASIC, in claims of misconduct by ANZ and NAB, over practices of a style that Westpac is still defending in the Federal Court.The maximum penalty for a corporation is 10,000 penalty units for each act or omission constituting a contravention s12GBA(3), of the Corporations Act, Justice Jayne Jagot wrote in judgment released on Friday"A penalty unit, at the relevant times, was A$100," she said. "Accordingly, for each contravention the maximum penalty is $1.1 million. This means that the maximum penalty for NAB's contraventions of the ASIC Act is $13.2 million and for ANZ's contraventions is $11 million."The intermittent offending by NAB's and ANZ's short-term interest rate risk desks (within the group treasury at each bank) are a civil wrong and not criminal conduct.NAB make a myriad of promises over improved behaviour, aware that its Financial Services licence is at risk.ASIC's charges are specific and repetitive. NAB, Justice Jagot said,  made attempts on each of 20 December 2010, 17 January 2011, 7 February 2011, 7 February 2011, 30 June 2011, 12 July 2011, 5 October 2011 and 25 October 2011 "to engage in conduct [in the prime bank bill market], in trade or commerce, in connection with the supply or acquisition of financial services that was, in all the circumstances, unconscionable."As a result, NAB attempted to contravene s12CC(1) of the ASIC Act (as it was at all material times prior to 1 January 2012)."Jagot wrote that NAB "agreed that the attempted contraventions were deliberate and not transparent to counterparties."NAB, she said, "agreed to give an enforceable undertaking to ASIC under s 93AA(1). Under the undertaking NAB has agreed to ASIC appointing an independent expert who will have access to all of NAB's books and a capacity to interview NAB's employees to provide reports relating to a BBSW [conduct] program.ANZ's contravention days, Jagot said, were 3 September 2010, 10 March 2011, 1 April 2011, 10 June 2011, 20 June 2011, 10 August 2011, 12 August 2011, 8 December 2011, 9 December 2011, and 3 February 2012.In substance, the conduct and penalties at ANZ on the rates mischief was the same as that at NAB.