A Hartford U.S. District Court judge fined RBS Securities Japan $50 million Monday for its role in manipulating benchmark interest rates for the Yen, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
RBS, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Royal Bank of Scotland, pled guilty in April to one count of wire fraud related to its manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), which is used around the world as a benchmark for short-term interest rates, officials said.
The activity took place in Connecticut and elsewhere between 2006 and 2010, according to court records.
RBS also admitted criminal conduct as part of the sentencing by Judge Michael Shea.
Additionally, Royal Bank entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the government that will require it to pay a a $100 million penalty, admit responsibility for its misconduct and continue cooperating with the Justice Department.
Combined with other penalties levied against it, RBS will have paid a total of $612 million.
“Today’s sentencing of RBS is an important reminder of the significant consequences facing banks that deliberately manipulate financial benchmark rates, and it represents one of the numerous enforcement actions taken by the Justice Department in our ongoing LIBOR investigation” Acting U.S. Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman said in a statement. “As a result of the department’s investigation, we have charged five individuals and secured admissions of criminal wrongdoing by four major financial institutions.”
