Finance Watch -- WSJ
May 26 2016 - 03:02AM
Dow Jones News
CREDIT MARKETS
Qatar Joins Gulf Debt-Sale Parade
Qatar, which owns some of the world's largest gas reserves, sold
$9 billion worth of bonds in multiyear tranches, Wednesday the
latest Persian Gulf state to tap the international capital markets
to shore up government finances crippled by low energy prices.
Qatar's return to the markets follows the example of the United
Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which earlier this year sold around $6
billion worth of bonds. Saudi Arabia also is expected to tap the
international bond markets later this year. It already secured a
$10 billion bank loan with the help of international lenders
earlier this year.
There has been a flurry of debt sales in recent weeks, as
issuers want to wrap up their financing plans ahead of the start of
the Muslim holy month called Ramadan, often a slow time for deal
activity in the region.
--Nicolas Parasie, Christopher Whittall
BENCHMARK PROBES
Citigroup Reaches $425 Million Pact
Citigroup Inc. will pay $425 million to end long-running civil
probes into the bank's alleged manipulation of benchmarks, becoming
the first U.S. bank to resolve claims related to the London
interbank offered rate.
The bank agreed to pay $250 million to resolve a claim from the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission that it tried to manipulate
the ISDAFix benchmark swaps rate, used to settle interest-rate
swaps, between 2007 and 2012. It will pay an additional $175
million to resolve claims that it tried to rig the yen Libor and
euroyen Tibor interest-rate benchmarks in 2010.
A half-dozen European banks have settled criminal or civil
claims tied to Libor rigging, but Citi is the first U.S. bank to do
so.
The initial Libor investigations quickly expanded to examine
similar patterns in other products. Last May, five global banks
including Citi and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. agreed to pay more
than $5 billion to resolve probes into whether traders colluded to
move foreign currency rates for their own benefit.
"We will vigorously continue to investigate any efforts to
manipulate financial benchmarks," the CFTC's enforcement director,
Aitan Goelman, said in announcing Wednesday's Citi agreement.
Citigroup said it had adopted "industry-wide reforms" in
participating in benchmark rates and made "substantial investments"
in controls to monitor for inappropriate behavior. It neither
admitted nor denied the agency's findings.
A spokesman said the Justice Department had closed its ISDAfix
investigation into Citigroup and said the Libor manipulation probe
is ongoing.
--Aruna Viswanatha
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 26, 2016 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
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