AFPTwo former managers at the French bank Societe Generale have been indicted on charges of manipulating the benchmark global interest rate known as LIBOR, the Justice Department announced Thursday. The alleged manipulation resulted in more than $170 million in damage on global financial markets where transactions occurred based on manipulated rates, according to the department. Prosecutors say Sindzingre and Bescond instructed subordinates to submit artificially low contributions toward the daily calculation of LIBOR rates, which are based on submissions from multiple banks. American officials have aggressively pursued LIBOR manipulation cases in recent years, extracting billions in fines and settlements from global financial institutions. British authorities said last month they expect LIBOR to be phased out by 2021.

Source: The Local August 25, 2017 08:15 UTC