ICAP Libor Fine Scrapped by EU Court

Interdealer broker ICAP has won a court battle against the European Commission.

The London-based firm was fined 14.9 million euros ($16.7 million) for its role in the Libor Libor Libor stands for London Inter-bank offered rate. It is an industry-specific term which most of us would never have heard of until the "Libor scandal" became popularized in 2012. Libor is considered to be one of the most important interest rates in finance, upon which trillions of financial contracts rest. The Libor rate effects over $800,000,000,000,000 in financial deals. Banks simply cannot lend money to one another whenever they like as there is a system in place. Every day a group of leading Libor stands for London Inter-bank offered rate. It is an industry-specific term which most of us would never have heard of until the "Libor scandal" became popularized in 2012. Libor is considered to be one of the most important interest rates in finance, upon which trillions of financial contracts rest. The Libor rate effects over $800,000,000,000,000 in financial deals. Banks simply cannot lend money to one another whenever they like as there is a system in place. Every day a group of leading Read this Term benchmark fixing scandal back in 2015.

The Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS, Deutsche Bank, and Citigroup all admitted to having rigged the benchmark in return for lower fines. But ICAP did not, deciding instead to fight the European Commission’s decision.

The interdealer broker took the decision to the General Court in Luxembourg - a court that listens to cases brought against European Union institutions.

In late 2017, the court ruled in ICAP’s favor, saying that the European Commission could not definitively say that the group had taken part in fixing Libor rates. The court also found that the EU regulator had not provided a solid methodology that showed how it had determined the level of fine it levied on ICAP.

After that decision was made, the European Commission appealed it and decided to take the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Victory for ICAP

But the regulator’s appeal was struck down again, with the court ruling this week that the fine levied against ICAP was not appropriate.

According to Reuters, judges at the Court of Justice dismissed the action brought by the European Commission.

It marks a rare victory for a British firm against the EU financial regulator.

Less than a quarter of cases brought by UK companies against the European Commission end with the EU body winning. For France, the ratio is even higher, with less than 10 percent of companies winning legal cases against the organization.