HSBC Holdings Plc has agreed to pay $100m (£71.3m) to settle private litigation over the Libor rigging scandal in the US, according to Reuters.
The bank is the fourth major company to settle claims that employees conspired to manipulate the Libor benchmark interest rate. The settlement is subject to court approval and was filed at the US District Court in Manhattan, New York.
HSBC has denied wrongdoing in the affair, but said it had settled the claims to reduce risk and avoid the cost and distraction of ongoing litigation.
The London Interbank Offered Rate or Libor is used to set rates on a vast array of products including credit cards, mortgages, student loans and other transactions. It sets the cost of banks borrowing from another.
Bankers were accused of fixing the rate by investors including the city of Baltimore and Yale University. The UK Financial Conduct Authority has said Libor will be phased out by the end of 2021.
