JP Morgan has been levied with the largest fine €62m ($79m) for manipulating Swiss franc Libor benchmark interest rate in an "illegal bilateral cartel" with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
RBS has been able to avoid penalties of €110m in two antitrust cases as it acted as the whistle blower before the Commission.
UBS has been penalised €12.7m while Credit Suisse will be paying €9.2m for participating in the cartel with JP Morgan.
The four banks had agreed to settle the case with the Commission thereby gaining a 10% reduction.
European Commission vice-president and in charge of competition policy Joaquín Almunia said: "Unlike in previous cartels we found in the financial sector, this one did not involve any collusion on a benchmark. Rather, the four banks agreed on an element of the price of certain financial derivatives.
"This way, the banks involved could flout the market at their competitors’ expense. Cartels in the financial sector, whatever form they take, will not be tolerated."
The commission has also imposed €1.7bn penalty on six financial institutions including JPMorgan and RBS for rate rigging in December 2013, reports Bloomberg.
Image: Berlaymont building, European Commission headquarters. Photo: courtesy of JLogan / Wikipedia
