Chickenfeed Libor fine from EU

Fines totalling €93.6 million (A$134 million) have been slapped on major US and European banks for forming cartels around international interest rate measures.

JP Morgan, Credit Suisse and UBS all recognised their involvement in the cartels in exchange for a ten per cent reduction in their respective fines. Royal Bank of Scotland, which was also involved, alerted the Commission about the cartels and had its fines waived.

US investment bank JP Morgan's final penalty for colluding with the Royal Bank of Scotland to fix the Libor benchmark rate for the Swiss franc was almost €62 million (A$90 million). Libor (which stands for London Interbank Offered rate) is the rate banks charge for short term loans.

JP Morgan was also fined €10.5 million for its involvement in a cartel on Swiss Franc interest rate derivatives. This was after a reduction for co-operating with the investigation into the cartel, which involved UBS, RBS and Credit Suisse.

UBS' penalty after reductions in the derivatives cartel came to €12.7 million. Credit Suisse was fined €9.2 million.

By alerting the Commission to both cartels, Royal Bank of Scotland escaped total fines of €115 million.

The European Commission said that "anti-cartel enforcement is a top priority for the commission and no sector is exempt, including the financial sector."

"Acting against financial cartels is one of our top priorities, given the importance of a healthy, transparent, well-functioning financial sector for the entire economy," European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said.

"Cartels in the financial sector, whatever form they take, will not be tolerated," Almunia said.

A JP Morgan spokesperson said the settlement made no finding that the banks management or employees knew about or were involved in the cartels, "or that the trader's actions had any impact on the firms Swiss Franc Libor submission or published Swiss Franc Libor rates."

Credit Suisse said the bank decided to settle the case to avoid lengthy legal proceedings.

The penalties are the latest by the European Commission, which along with authorities around the world, has handed down billions of euros in fines against top banks for rate-rigging, breaking trade sanctions and other misbehaviour.

Further fines are possible as last year the commission charged 13 of the world's largest investment banks with colluding in the US$18 trillion market for credit derivatives.