“Banks were clearly acting in concert,” said Andrew Tyrie, a British lawmaker, who is also chairman of the influential Treasury Committee in the House of Commons. “I fear it’s not going to be the end of the story, that we are going to find that other banks have been involved.”
Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit.
Four more global banks are being investigated for the alleged financial market manipulation that led to fines of $453 million against Barclays Bank, British Treasury chief George Osborne said Thursday, causing stocks in those groups to plummet.
Osborne said Citigroup in the U.S., Switzerland’s UBS, and Britain’s HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland were also being probed for allegedly providing false figures on key interest rates upon which mortgages and consumer loans are priced.
On Wednesday, U.S and British regulators imposed the fines on Barclays for manipulating the interest rate — the London interbank offered rate (LIBOR) — to its advantage between 2005 and 2009.
The banks’ share price fell sharply as investors priced in new hefty fines. By midday in London, Barclays shares had fallen 16%, RBS nearly 13%, HSBC 4% and Lloyds Banking Group 7%. In premarket trading in New York, Citigroup shares were down 1.9%.
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