The European Commission has fined a group of banks $2.3 billion for colluding to profit from derivatives linked to rigged interest rates.
Competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia said Wednesday the most shocking aspect of the cartel was the "collusion between banks who are supposed to be competing with each other."
The banks named as participating were Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole, HSBC, JPMorgan, UBS, Citigroup and RP Martin.
Although other fines have been levied against individual banks by U.S. and other regulators for manipulating interest rates, the Commission said it has sole responsibility for punishing cartels in the European Economic Area.
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