The Netherlands: Rabobank to Pay More Than $1 Billion in Libor Settlement; Chief Resigns - by Chad Bray

The Dutch lender Rabobank admitted on Tuesday to criminal wrongdoing by its employees and agreed to pay more than $1 billion in criminal and civil penalties to settle investigations by United States, British and other authorities into its role in setting global benchmark interest rates.

The bank is the latest lender to settle charges over the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor. The settlement with Rabobank is the second-largest agreement after the $1.5 billion penalty imposed on UBS related to the interest-rate scandal.

As part of the settlement, Rabobank entered into a so-called deferred prosecution agreement, in which it will avoid criminal charges as long as it continues to cooperate with investigators and stays out of further trouble.

Read more: Rabobank to Pay More Than $1 Billion in Libor Settlement; Chief Resigns - NYTimes.com

Banking Industry: US bank bosses set for tough Libor questions - by Stephen Foley

American bank bosses are set to be questioned on what they knew about Libor rate-rigging and how much the scandal could cost their institutions.

Analysts and investors in Libor panel banks Citigroup and Bank of America get their first chance to quiz management since the £291m Barclays settlement when they report earnings this week. The results come after a new estimate that says banks could end up paying $14bn in regulatory fines and legal settlements.

JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and BofA are the three US banks on the panel that submits estimates of their borrowing costs for inclusion in the daily Libor averages, which underpin trillions of dollars of derivatives contracts and affect interest rates for everyone from mortgage and credit card holders to small businesses.

Mr Schorr predicted it could be several years before the full cost of the scandal is known, because as well as regulatory investigations there are also multiple lawsuits in the US from investors alleging they lost money on derivatives because of the manipulation.

Read more: US bank bosses set for tough Libor questions - Business News - Business - The Independent

Barclays Affair Rocks European Banking Industry

In addition to Barclays, about 20 other banks are suspected of having entered incorrect figures into the LIBOR system between 2005 and 2011. In doing so, they may have inflicted losses worth billions on investors, borrowers and other customers, further destroying confidence in their industry.

Financial companies will now have to get used to stricter regulation. The British government wants to largely separate risky investment banking from the rest of the banking sector, and there are similar plans afoot in the United States. Scandals and shrinking profits have made things difficult for financial industry executives. "You can't invest in the shares of investment banks at the moment, because there's constantly so much junk coming to light," says one of the leading analysts for bank stocks.

WestLB and Deutsche Bank are among the banks investigators are targeting. In its most recent quarterly report, Germany's largest financial group states that it is being investigated by several regulatory agencies. The report notes that Deutsche Bank is cooperating with regulators, but that it has no further comment.

"If offences similar to those that apparently occurred at Barclays are uncovered at Deutsche Bank during the course of the investigations, everything will have to be investigated," says Hans-Christoph Hirt of the British shareholder advisory service Hermes. "It would be an opportunity for the new Supervisory Board Chairman Paul Achleitner to prove that he takes seriously the concerns that shareholders have clearly articulated."

Read more: Barclays Affair Rocks European Banking Industry - SPIEGEL ONLINE

US Presdidential Election: Campaign Contributions From Banks In Libor Probe Lift Mitt Romney, Barack Obama

Six of the banks under investigation -- JPMorgan, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, UBS, Bank of America and Barclays -- rank among Romney's top 20 donors. Through the end of May, employees of those companies and their family members have contributed more than $2 million to the Romney campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Mitt Romney is the top recipient of the financial sector cash, pulling in more than twice the contributions that have gone to President Barack Obama as of May. Incumbent members of Congress have received nearly one-third of the financial sector's donations so far.

None of the banks under investigation currently rank as top donors to Obama, although JPMorgan, Citigroup and UBS all ranked among Obama's top donors in 2008. Employees of the six banks that are top Romney donors have given $420,553 to the Obama campaign so far.

In addition, eight Obama bundlers hail from banks under investigation for their role in the rigging of the Libor rate. Executives from Barclays, Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS have raised at least $2 million for the reelection campaign.

The Obama team has already had to renounce one financial sector bundler this year after the investment fund of former New Jersey governor and senator Jon Corzine imploded and was found to have lost or misused investors' money. The campaign and the Democratic National Committee returned $70,000 in contributions from Corzine and his family, but declined to return more than $500,000 he had raised for the campaign from others.

Read more: Campaign Contributions From Banks In Libor Probe Lift Mitt Romney, Barack Obama