Rabobank Groep faces a fine of over 440 million dollars for Libor rigging

February 26, 2013 1:05 PM

UNITED STATES - Rabobank Groep faces a fine of more than $440 million for Libor rigging as global regulators seek to increase the $2.5 billion in penalties already levied in the rate-manipulation scandal.

 
Rabobank, the second-biggest Dutch lender, is next in line to reach a settlement with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Department of Justice and the U.K. Financial Services Authority over claims it tried to manipulate benchmark interest rates, said four people with knowledge of the probe who asked not to be identified because the talks are private.
 
The penalty, which may come as soon as May, is likely to be between the 290 million pounds ($440 million) Barclays Plc (BARC) paid in June and the $612 million Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc paid this month, one of the people said. Rabobank, formed in 1898 as a co-operative to lend to Dutch farmers, is the country’s only contributor to the London interbank offered rate, the benchmark for more than $300 trillion of securities.
 
Barclays, UBS AG and RBS have been fined more than $2.5 billion following a global probe into Libor manipulation. Traders rigged the benchmark to profit from bets on derivatives, while banks sought to submit artificially low rates to appear financially healthier than they were, according to regulators.
 
Closely held Rabobank is under scrutiny for alleged attempts to manipulate sterling Libor, dollar Libor, Japanese yen Libor and Euribor in its London, New York, Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong offices, one of the people said.
 
Eight jurisdictions
 
“It’s likely that an assessment of the facts and circumstances will lead to a settlement,” Rabobank said in a statement today. “The amount of such a settlement cannot be estimated reliably at this time,” nor can the timing of any announcement, the firm said.
 
The bank has said it’s been subpoenaed or asked for information by watchdogs in eight jurisdictions, including the European Union, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland as well as the Netherlands, and is cooperating. The firm said today it will also defend itself in civil cases pending in the U.S. involving Libor and Euribor.
 
Rebekah Carmichael, a DOJ spokeswoman, and Steven Adamske, a CFTC spokesman, declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the FSA in London.
 
The probe has intensified in recent months, with officials from the DOJ and U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation traveling to London to interview current and former Rabobank employees, two of the people said. Those talks have ended and the regulators are now in talks with the bank’s lawyers over the details of a settlement, the people added.
 
The Dutch lender has fired four traders for possible involvement in rate rigging, one of the people said.
 
Profit falls
 
Regulators are also focusing on Christian Schluep and Paul Robson, two derivatives specialists who left Rabobank in 2008 to join Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, the banking unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (8306) The Japanese bank suspended the two in July, saying the action wasn’t linked to their work at Mitsubishi UFJ.
 
Shinya Matsumoto, a Tokyo-based spokesman at Mitsubishi UFJ, declined to comment on the current status of the people. Lawyers for the two men declined to comment.
 
Rabobank posted a 29 percent decline in first-half profit to 1.31 billion euros ($1.7 billion). It will report full-year earnings on Feb. 28. The lender had about 341 billion euros in deposits at the end of June and a core Tier 1 capital ratio, a measure of a bank’s financial strength, of almost 13 percent.
 
Libor is calculated by a poll carried out daily by Thomson Reuters Corp. on behalf of the British Bankers’ Association, an industry lobby group, that asks firms to estimate how much it would cost to borrow from each other for different periods and in different currencies. The top and bottom quartiles of quotes are excluded, and those left are averaged and published for individual currencies before noon in London.
 
(Source: Bloomberg)
 
 
Official reaction of Rabobank
 
LIBOR investigations
 
26 February 2013
 
Government authorities in various jurisdictions are investigating a number of banks, including Rabobank, in connection with the LIBOR and EURIBOR setting process. Rabobank is cooperating with these investigations. Rabobank has also been named a defendant in civil litigations pending in the United States involving LIBOR and EURIBOR. Rabobank intends to defend itself in these actions. 
 
The facts and circumstances that appear from the ongoing investigations are being shared with the various regulatory agencies, and competition and criminal authorities on a rolling basis. At this point in time, it is still unsure when these investigations will be concluded. Based on the facts currently known and the publicly announced outcome of other panel banks’ investigations, it is likely that an assessment of the facts and circumstances will lead to a settlement. The amount of such a settlement cannot be estimated reliably at this time.
 
LIBOR Onderzoeken
 
26 februari 2013
 
Autoriteiten in verschillende jurisdicties onderzoeken momenteel verschillende banken, waaronder Rabobank, met betrekking tot de totstandkoming van LIBOR en EURIBOR-tarieven. Rabobank werkt mee aan deze onderzoeken. Rabobank is daarnaast gedaagd in een aantal civiele rechtszaken in de Verenigde Staten met betrekking tot de totstandkoming van LIBOR en EURIBOR-tarieven. Rabobank zal zich in deze rechtszaken verdedigen.
 
De feiten en omstandigheden die uit de lopende onderzoeken naar voren komen, worden op continue basis gedeeld met de diverse toezichthouders en mededingings- en strafrechtelijke autoriteiten. Het moment van afronding van deze onderzoeken is op dit moment nog onzeker. Gezien de thans bekende bevindingen en de uitkomsten van de onderzoeken bij andere panelbanken die inmiddels publiek zijn geworden, zal de weging van de feiten en omstandigheden een schikking aannemelijk maken. De hoogte daarvan kan op dit moment niet betrouwbaar worden geschat.
 
 
The Rabobank Group is one of the world’s most leading financial institutions. With its roots in the Netherlands, the Rabobank Group has grown in recent decades into an international financial services provider that has activities in the field of banking, asset management, leasing, insurance and real estate in 47 countries. 
The headquarters of Rabobank Groep NV stand in Utrecht, the Netherlands. 
 
Rabobank Curaçao was the first international office of Rabobank International, opening October 25, 1978. The office’s primary function is that of a booking center for the off-shore loans that are originated by Rabobank Argentina, Banco Rabobank International Brasil S.A., Rabobank Chile and Rabobank Mexico. Rabobank Curaçao is regulated and operates under the supervision of the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten.

Lawyer Roeland Zwanikken considers legal action against ABN AMRO Bank

May 08, 2021 6:14 PM
THE HAGUE--Attorney-at-law Roeland Zwanikken at St. Maarten’s BZSE law office is considering legal action against the intention of the Dutch ABN AMRO Bank to close the bank accounts of its clients in the Dutch Caribbean.

Fiscaal onderzoek bij notariskantoren vinden doorgang

May 07, 2021 8:04 AM
In het Antilliaans Dagblad: Fiscaal onderzoek bij notariskantoren
WILLEMSTAD – De fiscale onderzoeken bij de notarissen vonden en vinden, ondanks de beperkingen van Covid-19, weer doorgang en de medewerking aan de kant van notarissen en adviseurs is daarbij ‘over het algemeen goed’.

Juridische miljoenenstrijd tussen BNP Paribas en Italiaanse prinses verhardt

February 22, 2021 4:51 PM
  • Bezit van Italiaanse Crociani-familie op Curaçao mag van rechter worden verkocht
  • De Crociani's ruziën al jaren met BNP Paribas over een claim van $100 mln
  • Curaçaos trustkantoor United Trust heeft 'geen enkele relatie meer' met Camilla Crociani
Een Italiaanse prinses met zakelijke belangen in Nederland heeft het onderspit gedolven bij diverse rechtbanken in een langslepend conflict met zakenbank BNP Paribas.