By Foo Yun Chee and Huw Jones
LONDON, June 30 (Reuters) - Europe's antitrust chief said onMonday that he aimed to wrap up the remaining interest raterigging cases against HSBC, JPMorgan, CreditAgricole and brokerage ICAP before he leavesoffice in October.
In May, the European Commission charged HSBC - Europe'sbiggest bank - alongside U.S. peer JPMorgan and France's CreditAgricole with rigging benchmark interest rates linked to theeuro, five months after handing down a record 1.7-billion-eurofine against six other financial institutions for Euribor andLibor offences.
The European Union competition watchdog also issued chargesagainst ICAP early this month for suspected manipulation of theLondon Interbank Offered Rate - known as Libor - set for theyen.
Libor rates are the average interest rates estimated byleading banks in London that they would be charged if borrowingfive main currencies from other banks. Libor and Euribor - theEuro Interbank Offered Rate, published by the European BankingFederation - are central cogs in the global financial system andare used to help price loans and swaps worldwide.
Unlike the other financial firms, which included DeutscheBank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Citigroup, HSBC, JPMorgan, Credit Agricole and ICAP refused tosettle the case in December last year, which would have earnedthem a 10 percent cut in fines. Sanctions can reach up to 10percent of a company's turnover if it is found guilty ofbreaching EU rules.
European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said hemay be able to decide on the remaining cases towards the end ofthe year.
"Probably before the end of the mandate of this commission,there will be some news," Almunia told a Chatham Houseconference. The current Commission's mandate ends on October 31.
The EU probes are part of a global investigation.Authorities around the world have already fined 10 banks andbrokerages $6.0 billion and charged 16 people. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Sophie Walker)
HSBC Holdings (HSBA)