* Fine between the levels paid by Barclays, RBS - Bloomberg
* Potentially the 4th bank to pay out in a global probe
* Rabobank declines to comment
AMSTERDAM, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Dutch group Rabobank is expected to pay over $440 million to settle allegations itmanipulated benchmark interest rates, news agency Bloomberg saidon Tuesday, potentially making it the fourth bank to be fined ina global regulatory probe.
The second-largest Dutch financial group by assets couldagree to a penalty between the 290-million-pound ($438 million)fine slapped on Barclays in June and the $612 milliondeal struck by Royal Bank of Scotland this month,Bloomberg said, citing one person with knowledge of the probe.
More than a dozen banks and brokerages are beinginvestigated by regulators and anti-trust watchdogs worldwidefor manipulating benchmark rates such as Libor and Euribor,which are used to underpin about $550 trillion of financialproducts from derivatives to mortgages and credit card loans.
America's Commodity Futures Trading Commission initiated anindustry-wide investigation in October 2008 and, along with theU.S. Department of Justice and Britain's Financial ServicesAuthority, has fined three banks a total of $2.6 billion to datefor allowing traders to game rates in a global scam.
Five more financial groups, including interdealer brokerICAP and Deutsche Bank, are expected to reachjoint U.S. and UK financial settlements over the next months,although these and other regulators are also expected to pursuebanks independently.
Bloomberg said Rabobank's fine could come as early as May. Aspokesman for the unlisted Dutch bank, which releases full-yearresults on Thursday, declined to comment.
One industry source with knowledge of the probes cautionedtheir forensic nature made them highly complicated. Askedwhether the case against Rabobank could be settled within threemonths, the source said only: "We'll have to wait and see."
Rabobank said in August regulators from the Netherlands,Britain, the United States, the European Union, Japan, HongKong, Singapore and Switzerland had sent subpoenas and documentand information requests about its Libor and Euribor rates.
Libor (the London interbank offered rate) and its eurocousin Euribor are designed to reflect how much banks have topay to borrow from each other. Any manipulation casts doubt onevery contract that has used these rates as a reference point -and the first legal cases have already been brought.
Rabobank has been among a handful of peers sued by privateindividuals and in class action civil suits in the UnitedStates, alleging it rigged dollar Libor, Euribor, Japanese YenLibor as well as the Tokyo Interbank Offered Rate (Tibor).
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group said last July ithad suspended two London-based traders, who formerly worked forRabobank. A source close to the Japanese group said thesuspensions were not related to their work at the Japanese bank.
Switzerland's UBS has received the largest finefor manipulating interest rates so far - $1.5 billion. Two ofits former traders have also become the first individuals to becriminally charged in the scandal last December.
Barclays (BARC)