BRUSSELS, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Dutch lender Rabobank was not part of a cartel of six banks involved in rigging offinancial benchmarks, the European Union antitrust chief said onWednesday.
"Rabobank has not been involved in cartel activity accordingto our investigation," EU Competition Commissioner JoaquinAlmunia told a news conference.
Earlier on Wednesday, the European Commission fined sixfinancial institutions including Deutsche Bank, RoyalBank of Scotland and Citigroup a record total of1.71 billion euros ($2.3 billion) for rigging financialbenchmarks.