EU Regulators Stiffen, Fine Banks $2.3b For Rate Rigging

European Union regulators imposed a total of 1.7 billion Euros, or $2.3 billion, on eight financial institutions, including two U.S. banks, for their participation in an interest-rate rigging scam. The EU has limited authority over individual financial firms, but it does address antitrust or “competition law,” and this action was undertaken as a competition investigation, with allegations based on collusion. According to the New York Times Dealbook account, the settlement was viewed as a demonstration that EU regulators are not coddling the banks, as some have charged. The two U.S. institutions fined were Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase.