The European Commission has moved to make interest-rate manipulation a crime across the EU.
This will cover behaviour of the type seen in London and elsewhere in the LIBOR scandal.
The Commission’s investigation into possible cartels linked to the manipulation of interest-rate benchmarks also continues.
It has adopted amendments to its proposals for a Regulation and a Directive on insider dealing and market manipulation, including criminal sanctions, initially put forward for agreement to the Member States and the European Parliament on 20 October 2011.
The amendments will prohibit the manipulation of benchmarks, including LIBOR and EURIBOR, and make such manipulation a criminal offence.