Banks and broker-dealers ensnared in the Libor-rigging scandal are facing fresh pressure to settle with Europe’s top competition authority as it expands the scope of its probes.
The European Commission’s 18-month antitrust investigation, previously known to include yen and euro denominated swaps, has been extended to include Swiss franc-linked instruments and poses a big regulatory threat to the financial institutions under scrutiny, according to people familiar with the probe.
The commission can impose a maximum penalty equivalent to 10 per cent of a firm’s global turnover for each cartel it is found to be involved with. A bank implicated in all three investigations could, for example, face fines of up to 30 per cent of total revenues.