WASHINGTON–The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp has sued 16 big banks that set a key global interest rate, accusing them of fraud and conspiring to keep the rate low to enrich themselves.The banks, which include Bank of America, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase in the US, are among the world's largest.
The FDIC says it is seeking to recover losses suffered from the rate manipulation by ten US banks that failed during the financial crisis and were taken over by the agency. The civil lawsuit was filed in federal court in Manhattan.The banks rigged the London interbank offered rate, or LIBOR, from August 2007 to at least mid-2011, the FDIC alleged.
The LIBOR affects trillions of dollars in contracts around the world, including mortgages, bonds and consumer loans.
AP