The settlement - for rigging the Libor and Euribor rates - was larger than expected, according to the Financial Times, because the authorities 'found pervasive misconduct over six years reaching into the echelons of management'. The bank admitted that nearly 30 employees had engaged in 'inappropriate conduct'. 

Generating profits for traders

Mythili Raman, acting assistant Attorney-General in the criminal division of the US Department of Justice, said: 'For years, employees at Rabobank, often working with traders at other banks around the globe, illegally manipulated four different interest rates – Euribor and Libor for US dollar, yen, and pound sterling – in the hopes of fraudulently moving the market to generate profits for their traders at the expense of the bank’s counterparties.' About 20 banks are being investigated by at least 10 regulators in the world. Rabobank is the fifth institution to settle.