By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Barclays has reacheda $100 million multi-state settlement over charges that itmanipulated the Libor interest rate benchmark, the New YorkAttorney General said Monday.
The settlement with 44 states marks the latest in a seriesof enforcement actions the bank has faced in connection withLibor manipulation.
In 2012, Barclays reached a $453 million agreement with theJustice Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission andBritish authorities to settle parallel charges.
As part of its agreement with the Justice Department,Barclays admitted to wrongdoing that occurred between August2005 and May 2008, when certain traders at the bank called theircounterparts at competing institutions and colluded to submitLibor rates that benefited their trading positions.
Barclays is one of several banks to be caught up inrate-rigging scandals. Other banks that have reached settlementswith U.S. authorities in connection with Libor include UBS, Royal Bank of Scotland, Deutsche Bank and ICAP.
Schneiderman said Monday that Barclays is the first bank ofseveral under investigation by state attorneys general to reacha settlement and that it cooperated with the state probe.
He said that as a result of the rate-rigging, governmententities and non-profits were "defrauded of millions" when theyentered into swap contracts with Barclays.
"There has to be one set of rules for everyone, no matterhow rich or how powerful, and that includes big banks and otherfinancial institutions that engage in fraud or impair the fairfunctioning of financial markets," he said in a statement.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch)
Barclays (BARC)
