Deutsche Bank fined record US$2.5b to settle Libor fixing probes

Frankfurt

DEUTSCHE Bank was ordered to pay a record US$2.5 billion fine and fire seven employees to settle US and UK investigations into its role in manipulating Libor.

Deutsche Bank must terminate six London employees and one in Frankfurt who engaged in wrongful conduct, the New York Department of Financial Services said in a statement on Thursday. The DFS didn't identify them by name and said one is a managing director, four directors and two vice-presidents.

"Deutsche Bank employees engaged in a widespread effort to manipulate benchmark interest rates for financial gain," DFS superintendent Benjamin Lawsky said in the statement. "We must remember that markets do not just manipulate themselves: It takes d…