EU turns up heat on three more banks

Brussels - The European Commission pressed ahead Tuesday with a probe into three global banks - Credit Agricole, HSBC and JP Morgan - which refused to join other lenders in a settlement last year over suspected manipulation of the Euribor interest-rate benchmark.

"We have now reached the preliminary conclusion that these three banks may have participated in this cartel too," said EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia.

They have each been sent a formal statement of objection.

"The three banks have now the opportunity to defend themselves. We will look carefully at all their arguments," Almunia added.

Suspicions about rate-rigging date back to the 2008 financial crisis. The benchmarks involved - most notably Libor and Euribor - serve as references for everything from mortgages to credit cards.

The European Union has accused lenders of colluding illegally by discussing the interest rates they would submit for the benchmarks' calculation and sharing other commercially sensitive information.

In December, four European lenders - Deutsche Bank, Societe Generale, RBS and Barclays - admitted to the EU's executive that they had been involved in a cartel to manipulate the Euribor benchmark, used for euro transactions.

Barclays' penalty was waived for blowing the whistle, while the other three were fined an overall €1.04bn - including a 10% reduction for agreeing to settle.

But the commission continued its investigations against Credit Agricole of France, Britain's HSBC and US lender JP Morgan after they refused the terms of the settlement.

The commission, the EU's competition watchdog, can impose fines of up to 10% of a company's annual turnover if it finds them to be in breach of the bloc's legislation.

The investigation dates back to 2011, when the commission carried out unannounced inspections at several banks.

It is also probing suspected manipulation of markets relating to other currencies, and "possible collusion relating to benchmarks for oil and biofuels," Almunia said.