Are British Banks Bankable?
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ARE BRITISH > Libor scandal More than a dozen banks are under investigation by BANKS BANKABLE? authorities in Europe, Japan and the US over suspect- ed rigging of the London Interbank Offered Rate Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) would (Libor). Barclays has already been fined $451 million by pay £390 million to US and British British and US regulatory bodies for its part in manip- authorities to settle allegations it ulating Libor rates. The scandal also affected RBS, manipulated benchmark interest Lloyds and HSBC in Britain and Swiss bank UBS rates. To avoid a public backlash, the > Mis-selling interest-rate hedging products British bank said it was cutting Last month Britain’s FSA said it found in the 173 bonuses to help pay the fine. A look interest-rate swap test cases it had examined, about at some of the scandals that have 90 per cent did not comply with regulatory engulfed banks requirements. So far, Barclays has taken the highest in Britain provision, setting aside £450 million for compensation, HSBC about £150 million and RBS £50 million > Mis-selling insurance Usually, payment protection insurance policies were offered to those taking a personal loan or mortgage to cover repayments, if clients were taken ill or lost their jobs. However, the policies were often sold to those who did not want or need these. So far, banks have set aside more than £12 billion to deal with the scandal > Anti-money laundering breaches In September, Standard Chartered was fined $340 million by a New York regulator for illegally hiding transactions with Iran, allowing the country to sell its oil for dollars from at least 2001 to 2007. Others to pay penalties included HSBC, Lloyds, ING, Credit Suisse, Barclays and ABN Amro, now part of RBS Fines imposed on leading banks Year Bank Fine (mn $) Reason Regulator 2012 HSBC 1,920 Money laundering lapses DOJ 2012 UBS 1,500 Libor manipulation CFTC/FSA/FINMA 2009 UBS 780 Aiding tax fraud DOJ 2012 StanChart 667 Anti sanctions OFAC/DOJ/MORE 2012 ING 619 Anti sanctions OFAC 2013 RBS 615 Libor manipulation CFTC/DOJ/FSA 2010 Goldman 550 Misleading investors FSA/SEC 2009 C.Suisse 536 Anti sanctions OFAC 2010 ABN Amro 500 Anti sanctions OFAC 2012 Barclays 451 Libor manipulation DOJ/CFTC/FSA 2009 Lloyds 350 Anti sanctions OFAC/DOJ 2010 Barclays 298 Anti sanctions DOJ/OFAC 2012 JP Morgan 297 RMBS offering SEC 2011 Citi 285 Misleading CDO investors SEC 2011 JP Morgan 228 Muni bond rigging SEC 2011 UBS 160 Muni bond rigging SEC 2011 JP Morgan 154 Misleading investors SEC 2010 BofA 150 Disclosing Merrill bonuses SEC 2011 Wachovia 148 Muni bond rigging SEC 2010 BofA 137 Muni bond rigging SEC 2003 JP Morgan 135 Enron SEC 2012 Mizuho 128 Misleading CDO investors SEC DOJ: Department of Justice, CFTC: Commodity Futures Trading Commission, FSA: Financial Services Authority, OFAC: Office of Foreign Assets Control, SEC: Securities and Exchange Commission Sources: Reuters/www.fsa.gov.co.uk.