BERN: Switzerland’s largest bank UBS, says that it will plead guilty to fraud in the US for manipulating benchmark interest rates and pay $545 million in fines and penalties.
A 2012 agreement between the bank and US authorities to drop charges over the so-called Libor scandal had been overturned by officials, the bank said in a statement issued on Wednesday. UBS said it had agreed to plead guilty to one count of fraud in connection with manipulation of the Libor rate, pay a $203 million fine and accept a three-year term of probation.
UBS was fined 1.4 billion francs ($1.49 billion) in 2012 by Swiss authorities for its part in manipulating the benchmark rate. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Connecticut Department of Banking also jointly issued a finding that UBS engaged in “unsafe and unsound business practices” relating to its foreign exchange business.