Commonwealth Bank will have three months to file a defence to ASIC allegations of misconduct in the bank bill swap market, a federal court judge ruled on Friday. Justice Jonathon Beach, who last year presided over the Westpac rate-rigging trial, also directed that ASIC file its full statement of claim within three weeks. According to ASIC, CBA's senior management was aware of unconscionable practices used by the bank's traders to manipulate the bank bill swap rate(BBSW) over a ten month period starting in January 2012. The timeline set out by Justice Beach may allow the scheduling of a trial in this matter by the end of 2018.