WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays is poised to secure a $200 million deal with U.S. regulators to settle a probe into allegations staff manipulated a key interbank lending rate known as Libor, one source familiar with the matter said.
The announcement, which is due at 0830 EDT will draw a line under an investigation launched by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a second source said. Britain's Financial Services Authority (FSA) is among several other international regulators conducting probes.
Regulators have been investigating allegations that several banks, including Barclays, sought to manipulate the London Interbank Lending Rate (Libor) which underpins trillions of dollars of derivatives contracts worldwide and is also widely used as a reference rate for corporate lending.
Barclays was not available to comment. Britain's FSA declined to comment on whether it had also reached a deal.
"The CFTC will want to lead the way on this and be seen to have brought yet another institution to heel," one London-based industry consultant said.
Barclays said in March it was engaged in a possible resolution with regulators looking into potential enforcement proceedings.
As well as the FSA and CFTC, other authorities probing Libor include the European Commission, Japan's Financial Services Authority, and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Other banks involved include Citigroup, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS.
Several banks have suspended traders over the investigations. There have been no criminal charges yet.
Libor is the benchmark for around $360 trillion worth of financial contracts worldwide. A daily poll asks banks at what rate they think they will be able to borrow money from each other in 10 major currencies and for 15 borrowing periods ranging from overnight loans out to 12 months.
As the credit crisis took hold in 2008, allegations started mounting that Libor no longer reflected reality and authorities undertook to examine whether traders tried to influence whether the rate went up or down to profit on bets on the direction it would go.
(Reporting by Steve Slater, Kirstin Ridley, Sarah White, Carrick Mollenkamp, Alexandra Alper and Karey Wutkowski; Editing by Alexander Smith and Dan Lalor)
