Barclays Fined $115 Million by CFTC for Alleged Manipulation of ISDAfix

By Max Colchester 

LONDON-- Barclays PLC on Wednesday was fined $115 million by a U.S. regulator for allegedly attempting to manipulate a major benchmark interest rate.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in a statement that Barclays's U.S. traders attempted to manipulate the U.S. dollar iteration of ISDAfix, or the International Swaps and Derivatives Association Fix, between 2007 and 2012. The ISDAfix benchmark is widely used in setting payout rates on pension funds and determining the cost of real-estate loans.

A group of other financial institutions including interdealer broker ICAP PLC have said they are under investigation for alleged manipulation of the ISDAfix rate.

In a statement the CFTC said that Barclays, one of the panel banks which submitted rates that determined the daily U.S. ISDAfix rate, tried to artificially move the rate during the window when it is set. The bank at the time didn't have any internal controls to regulate how the submission should be made during the period.

The fine comes as Barclays and other banks pleaded guilty and agreed to pay more than $5 billion in penalties to resolve charges that they manipulated foreign-exchange rates.

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