Barclays to pay £290m penalties (From Braintree and Witham Times)

Barclays to pay £290m penalties

2:38pm Wednesday 27th June 2012 in National News © Press Association 2013

Banking giant Barclays is to pay penalties of £290 million to settle claims that it manipulated the interbank lending rate.

The bank was fined £59.5 million - the largest imposed by City watchdog the FSA - and also agreed payments to authorities in the United States.

Chief executive Bob Diamond apologised for the incident and said that he and fellow executives Chris Lucas, Jerry del Missier and Rich Ricci have agreed not to take a bonus this year.

The London inter-bank offered rate (Libor) and its equivalent in Europe, Euribor, reflect the rates that banks demand to lend to one another overnight.

The FSA said that during the financial crisis Libor submissions were reduced due to senior management's concerns about negative media comment.

The regulator added that submissions on Libor and Euribor took into account requests from interest rate derivatives traders, who were motivated by profit and sought to benefit from Barclays' trading positions.

The breaches involved a significant number of employees and occurred over a number of years, the FSA added.

Mr Diamond said: "I am sorry that some people acted in a manner not consistent with our culture and values.

"The events which gave rise to today's resolutions relate to past actions which fell well short of the standards to which Barclays aspires in the conduct of its business.

"Nothing is more important to me than having a strong culture at Barclays."