Swiss bank UBS has agreed to pay $68 million to settle a multistate investigation into the bank’s role in manipulating an interest rate used to price everything from credit cards to mortgages, officials said Friday.
It is the latest of several bank settlements of charges related to the manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate, better known as Libor. UBS has paid more than $1.5 billion in fines and penalties to U.S. and European authorities for its manipulation of Libor.
Continue Reading Below
The investigation involved attorneys general of 40 states. The states previously reached Libor-related settlements with Barclays, Deutsche Bank and CitiBank, collecting nearly $500 million.
Libor is set every day and is a widely quoted interest rate used to price a myriad of financial instruments. The interest rates on credit cards typically use Libor as a benchmark.
“Our multistate investigation will continue in order to hold accountable those other banks which harmed consumers in Connecticut and across the country,” Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said.
New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood’s office said UBS made millions in unjust gains from fraudulent conduct while government entities investing with the bank were left in the dark.
“Manipulative or fraudulent conduct that undermines the integrity of our financial markets will not be tolerated,” Underwood said.
