All the focus is on Royal Bank of Scotland this morning, and rightly so, but we thought we’d mention in passing that Lloyds Banking Group, the UK’s other state-backed bank, has confirmed the FT’s scoop that it’s in late-stage settlement discussions over the bank’s role in the manipulation of key interest rate benchnarks.
The FT reported on Thursday that Lloyds is preparing to announce early next week that it will pay fines of £200m to £300m to US and UK regulators to settle a long-running investigation into the rigging of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, and other rates.
The announcement is expected to come before Lloyds reports results for the first six months of the year on July 31, FastFT reports.
Here’s what Lloyds said on Friday: “Lloyds Banking Group plc notes the recent media coverage regarding potential settlements with a number of government agencies and their investigations into submissions, communications and procedures around the setting of Interbank Offered Rates and other benchmarks.
“LBG confirms that it is in late-stage settlement discussions with a number of agencies. The settlements remain to be agreed and LBG expects they will include the payment of penalties. LBG will update the market on these issues as appropriate.”
