RBS looking at Barclay's size fine for its role in manipulating Libor

The Telegraph reports that RBS is likely to pay a fine that is slightly larger than the fine paid by Barclay's for its role in manipulating Libor.

Of course a fine of this size, while large, is a cost of doing business when compared to how much money RBS most likely made from manipulating Libor.

Royal Bank of Scotland could be fined up to £300m later this year to settle allegations traders sought to manipulate the libor interest rate, according to reports. 

The British bank is said to be in talks with the Financial Services Authority in the UK and the Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the US, The Financial Times reported. 

Stephen Hester, the chief executive of RBS, warned in the summer that the state-owned bank was one of several global lenders being investigated over the alleged manipulation of an interest rate used as the benchmark for billions of pounds of loans each day. 

“RBS is one of the banks tied up in Libor. We’ll have our day in that particular spotlight,” Mr Hester said in July. 

The bank, in which the taxpayer still owns an 82pc stake, has confirmed the dismissal of several employees in connection to the Libor manipulation claims. 

RBS is also battling a claim for wrongful dismissal from a former trader in Singapore who alleges that RBS's own libor submissions were manipulated.

The trader claims that anyone at RBS could and did manipulate Libor for their and the bank's benefit.