Feb 6 (Reuters) - Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland will pay U.S. and British authorities $612 million and pleadguilty to wire fraud in Japan to settle allegations itmanipulated global benchmark interest rates.
RBS grew from a Scottish bank to become one of the world'slargest after a series of takeovers, including the purchase ofNatWest in 2000, but it was subsequently hit by a series ofproblems. Here is a look at its troubles since 2007:
April 3, 2007 - RBS leads a consortium along with Fortis andSpain's Santander bidding for Dutch bank ABN AMRO. InOctober, the consortium wins a bidding war against Barclays for ABN AMRO with a 70-billion-euro offer, making itthe biggest banking takeover in history. The takeover comes justbefore markets slump as the subprime credit crisis takes hold.
April 2008 - RBS announces a record 12-billion-pound rightsissue to cover a potential 5.9-billion-pound writedown on thevalue of its toxic assets.
October/November 2008 - Britain is forced to pump 20 billionpounds into the lender to shore up its capital position. StephenHester is named to replace Fred Goodwin as CEO. The governmentinjects a further 25 billion pounds in January 2009, leaving itwith an approximate 82 percent stake.
February 2009 - RBS reports a loss of 24.1 billion poundsfor 2008, the biggest in British corporate history.
December 2010 - Goodwin and other RBS executives during thefinancial crisis escape punishment by the Financial ServicesAuthority despite what the regulator describes as a "series ofbad decisions" in 2007 and 2008.
December 2011 - The FSA publishes its report, begun in 2009, into RBS's near failure. The report blames RBS's "poormanagement decisions" and flaws within the FSA itself. It alsorecommends tougher rules to ensure that in future bankingexecutives can face "personal consequences" if a bank fails.
August 2012 - A joint New York-Connecticut investigation ofthe Libor benchmark interest rate sends subpoenas to RBS andseveral other banks. The subpoenas seek communication betweenexecutives related to possible collusion that may have played arole in alleged manipulation of the Libor rate.
September 2012 - RBS increases its target for job cuts atits investment banking business to 3,800 by the end of 2013.Hester has already axed 34,000 jobs since arriving at RBS.
February 2013 - RBS is fined $612 million for its role inthe manipulation of the London interbank offered rate (Libor)and other global benchmark rates. The rigging continued evenafter traders learned that Libor submissions were being probed.
It is the third bank to be fined for Libor rigging, afterBarclays and UBS.
(Reporting by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit
Editing by Mark Potter)
Barclays (BARC)