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By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, Dec 3 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators willimpose record multi-million euro fines on six banks includingCitigroup, Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank ofScotland on Wednesday for rigging key interest ratebenchmarks, sources said.
The sanctions, the first by the European Commission for ratemanipulation and expected to top 1.5 billion euros ($2.04billion), follow hefty fines on top banks for similar offencesfrom authorities in the United States, Britain and elsewhere.
The benchmarks involved in the three cases - the Londoninterbank offered rate Libor, the Tokyo and the euro areaequivalents - are used to price hundreds of trillions of dollarsin assets ranging from mortgages to derivatives.
JPMorgan and Barclays were also in thegroup charged with manipulating Libor and the Tokyo interbankoffered rate Tibor, a person familiar with the matter said.
The banks admitted liability in return for a 10 percentreduction in fines. UBS alerted the EuropeanCommission to the yen interest rate derivatives wrongdoing andwill not be penalised.
Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland will also bepenalised for rigging benchmark euro zone interest rates. Frenchbank Societe Generale is also part of the group facingsanctions for alleged rigging of the rate known as Euribor.
HSBC and Credit Agricole are likely to bepenalised next year after refusing to settle the case with theCommission. Barclays blew the whistle on the group and will notbe fined.
It was not immediately clear if JPMorgan will be sanctionedfor its Euribor involvement on Wednesday or next year. Reutersreported the imminent Euribor fines on Nov. 5.
EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia is expected toannounce the fines for the three cases at 1030 GMT on Wednesday,a second person said.
Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Societe Generale, RBS, JPMorgan andCitigroup declined to comment. HSBC and Credit Agricole were notimmediately available to comment.
Commission spokesman for competition policy AntoineColombani could not be immediately reached for comment.
Authorities around the world have so far fined UBS, RBS,Barclays, Rabobank and broker ICAP $3.7 billion for manipulatingrates. Seven individuals face criminal charges.
UBS paid a record fine of $1.5 billion late last year to theU.S. Department of Justice and the UK's Financial ServicesAuthority for rate-rigging. For a factbox on the biggest fineshanded down to banks.
EU fines can reach up to 10 percent of a company's globalturnover. RBS had a turnover of 25 billion pounds last year,while Barclays was 29 billion pounds. Societe Generale's was23.1 billion euros, Deutsche Bank's 33.5 billion euros and JPMorgan's revenue was $97 billion.
The current record for an EU cartel fine is 1.47 billioneuros for a cartel involved with cathode-ray tubes.
