British bank RBS set to pay fine due to Libor rate fixing

London, United Kingdom (4E) – UK’s biggest taxpayer-owned lender Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc said it will likely pay a fine in the next several months to settle with regulators’ investigating its involvement in manipulation of the London interbank offered rate.

During the bank’s third-quarter results presentation on Friday, chief executive Stephen Hester said he would be “disappointed” if no details about the settlement are provided by February.

The bank is yet to provide specifics on the size of the penalty or if it will be bigger than Barclays’ £290m fine to the Financial Services Authority and U.S. regulators.

The Edinburgh-based lender is among the several banks facing probe from regulators worldwide into allegations that they manipulated key benchmark interest rate Libor, which is used by more than $300tn worth of securities.

RBS, which is over 80 per cent owned by the British taxpayers, has fired at least four traders after completing an internal investigation, and even suspended its head of rates trading for Europe and the Asia-Pacific region last month. The move marked the first senior manager in the bank ordered to go on leave.

The British lender announced a net loss of £1.38bn ($2.23bn) for the third quarter, compared to a £1.23bn net profit in the same period last year. Revenue fell 43 per cent to £4.86bn during the period.

The bank has cut 9,000 jobs in the last 12 months and 37,000 since the financial crisis in 2008. It needs to sell off areas of its business to comply with EU conditions as a result of the £45bn taxpayer bailout.

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