Almost a dozen traders and brokers in London and Asia have been fired, suspended or put on leave by their employers as a multinational probe into alleged manipulation of crucial global lending rates accelerates.
Regulators have been investigating US and European banks that help set interbank lending rates in London and Tokyo since late 2010, in an intensive inquiry that spans three continents and involves at least nine enforcement agencies.
In the past few months, officials have also expanded their inquiries to hedge funds that place big bets on movements in those rates and the interdealer brokers that serve as go-betweens with the banks, according to people familiar with the probe.