A new nightmare on Wall Street? U.S. banks face criminal probe into global interest rate-fixing scheme as Barclays blows the whistle on America's financial giants [1]

A new nightmare on Wall Street? U.S. banks face criminal probe into global interest rate-fixing scheme as Barclays blows the whistle on America's financial giants

 

 

 

By TOBY HARNDEN  [2]and THOMAS DURANTE [3]

PUBLISHED: 23:38 GMT, 28 June 2012

 

 

Some of America's top banks are set to be dragged into a major criminal investigation of a global interest rate-fixing scandal about to engulf some of Wall Street's biggest institutions.

The worldwide probe centres on claims traders at Barclays colluded with rival banks to keep interest rates at levels to their benefit.

Barclays agreed to pay a whopping $453million in fines to the U.S. Justice Department and the UK's Financial Services Authority.

But it emerged tonight the bank had struck a deal of 'extraordinary co-operation' with regulators in Washington and London - potentially exposing collusion on interest rates among banks across the globe.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2166198/Interest-rate-scandal-Will-Barclays-turn-banks-involved-massive-scheme.html#ixzz1zAYgZTb4 [4]