Citibank paying $425M in fines to settle US charges on rates

WASHINGTON (AP) - Citibank will pay $425 million in fines to settle federal civil charges of attempting to manipulate key benchmarks used to set interest rates for investments in derivatives and U.S. Treasury bonds as well as a range of consumer loans.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced two settlements Wednesday with Citibank, part of the big Wall Street bank Citigroup Inc.

In some instances, the regulators said, Citibank and its Japanese affiliates tried to manipulate benchmark rates even while they knew the agency was investigating the bank's practices in that area.

It was the latest action by regulators to penalize major European and U.S. banks for alleged rigging of global interest and currency-exchange rates. Banks together have paid several billion dollars in settlements.