JPMorgan to Pay $65 Million Fine for Dollar Benchmark Manipulation

By Gabriel T. Rubin

WASHINGTON -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to pay a $65 million fine to settle claims that it tried to manipulate a global interest rate benchmark, the latest fine levied by U.S. regulators to punish crisis-era manipulation schemes by large banks.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said JPMorgan employees between 2007 and 2012 made false reports and attempted to manipulate the U.S. Dollar International Swaps and Derivatives Association Fix, a benchmark that is referenced in many derivatives products.

The regulator found that during that five-year period, JPMorgan employees would attempt to manipulate the reference rate by "bidding, offering, and executing transactions in targeted interest rate products" around the time of day when the reference rate was fixed.

The settlement with the CFTC makes JPMorgan just the latest major bank to settle charges of alleged interest-rate manipulation in recent years, as the CFTC noted in its announcement of the settlement.

"This matter is one in a series of CFTC actions that clearly demonstrates the Commission's unrelenting commitment to root out manipulation from our markets and to protect those who rely on the integrity of critical financial benchmarks," CFTC Enforcement Director James McDonald said in a statement.

"We're pleased to have this matter behind us," a JPMorgan spokeswoman said.

The CFTC has imposed around $6 billion in penalties against banks and brokers to address the rigging of benchmarks such as Libor and ISDAFIX.

Barclays PLC, Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC have settled similar cases with the CFTC for larger amounts of money.

Write to Gabriel T. Rubin at gabriel.rubin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 18, 2018 15:02 ET (19:02 GMT)

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