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LONDON (Alliance News) - Lloyds Banking Group PLC Friday morning confirmed it is in late-stage settlement discussions with government regulators with regards to their investigations into the setting of Interbank offered rates and other benchmarks, and said that it expects to incur penalties as a result.
"Lloyds Banking Group confirms that it is in late-stage settlement discussions with a number of agencies. The settlements remain to be agreed, and LBG expects they will include the payment of penalties. Lloyds Banking Group will update the market on these issues as appropriate," the bank said in a statement Friday morning.
Any settlement would follow on from fines imposed by regulators on fellow UK banks Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and Barclays PLC. RBS was fined GBP390.0 million by UK and US regulators in February last year, while Barclays was fined GBP290.0 million in June 2012.
According to a Sky News report on Friday afternoon, Lloyds will examine whether it can claw back millions of pounds paid to former executives who will next week be implicated in the scandal. Citing insiders, the report said that up to 15 Lloyds employees would face investigations once the fines are confirmed. Lloyds declined to comment on the report.
Earlier, the Financial Times reported that the bank is preparing to disclose that it will pay GBP200 million to GBP300 million to regulators in order to settle allegations that it manipulated Libor rates.
Citing three people familiar with the situation, the FT said Lloyds' announcement is expected to come before its interim results, planned for release next Thursday.
The newspaper said the settlement is expected to include fines paid to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Department of Justice in the US and to the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK.
Lloyds shares were Friday quoted up 1.4% at 74.96 pence.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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