JP MORGAN Chase, Barclays and UBS are among seven banks subpoenaed in New York and Connecticut’s investigation into alleged manipulation of Libor, according to a person familiar with the matter and company filings.
Subpoenas were sent in recent weeks to Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, and HSBC Holdings, in addition to Barclays and JP Morgan, said the person. Citigroup and UBS received subpoenas earlier this year as part of the investigation.
New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman and Connecticut attorney general George Jepsen are jointly investigating alleged manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, by lenders.
RBS, UBS, Lloyds Banking Group and Deutsche Bank are among the lenders regulators in Europe, Asia and the US are investigating. Confidence in Libor, a benchmark for financial products valued at $360 trillion worldwide, has been dented by Barclays’s admission that it submitted false rates. Robert Diamond resigned as chief executive after the bank was fined £290 million.
RBS spokeswoman Sarah Binnie said the bank continues to receive requests from various regulators investigating the setting of Libor and other interest rates. The lender is co-operating, she said.
“It is not possible to estimate with any certainty what effect these investigations and any related developments may have on the group.”
Deutsche Bank spokesman Kathryn Hanes said the lender has received subpoenas and requests for information from certain regulators and governmental entities in the US and is co-operating.
Citigroup said in a regulatory filing that subsidiaries “have received additional requests for information and documents from various US and non-US governmental agencies”.
UBS said in a regulatory filing that numerous agencies, including “various state attorneys general” are investigating whether there were improper attempts to manipulate Libor and other rates.
JP Morgan spokesman Joe Evangelisti, Juanita Gutierrez at HSBC and Barclays spokesman Michael O’Looney declined to comment. – (Bloomberg)
