Barclays reaches £77m settlement over Libor rigging

Allegations include Barclays managers instructing staff to lower Barclays’ USD Libor submissions to avoid negative publicity.

US attorneys said that that Barclays, due to pressure from management, was contributing USD LIBOR submissions that were lower than the rate at which Barclays was borrowing or could have borrowed funds, and lower than the rate at which Barclays should have been submitting its USD LIBOR contributions.

New York attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, said: "There has to be one set of rules for everyone, no matter how rich or how powerful, and that includes big banks and other financial institutions that engage in fraud or impair the fair functioning of financial markets."

In a statement, Barclays said: “We believe this settlement is in the best interests of our shareholders and clients, and allows us to continue to focus on the future and serve our clients."

In May 2015, the FCA fined Barclays a record £284m for failing to control business practices in its foreign exchange business in London.

Last month, three former Barclays employees were convicted of rigging Libor rates at Southwark crown court.

Jay Merchant was convicted unanimously of manipulating the key financial rate between 2005 and 2007. Jonathan Mathew and Alex Pabon were found guilty by majority verdict after a ten-week trial.