ASIC has taken ANZ to court over alleged interest rate rigging

AUSTRALIA’S corporate regulator has started legal action against ANZ for alleged involvement in interest rate rigging among the big four banks.

25/10/2010 BUSINESS: The Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) logo is displayed on a bank branch in Sydney, Australia, on Monday, Oct. 25, 2010. Three of Australia's four largest banks are set to post second-half profits that match or exceed earnings before the global financial crisis as bad debts ease in an economy benefiting from the biggest mining boom in a century. Photographer: Sergio Dionisio/Bloomberg

AUSTRALIA’S corporate regulator has started legal action against ANZ Banking Group for alleged involvement in interest rate rigging among Australia’s big four banks.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission on Friday said it had commenced proceedings in the Federal Court in Melbourne against ANZ for “unconscionable conduct and market manipulation” in relation to the setting of the bank bill swap reference rate between March 2010 and May 2012.

The BBSW is the primary interest rate benchmark used in Australian financial markets, administered by the Australian Financial Markets Association.

It is the base rate used to calculate payments on securities, mortgages, credit cards and business loans.

The prospect that it may have been tampered with thus has wide implications for everyday Australians.

On September 27, 2013, the AFMA changed the method by which the BBSW is calculated. The alleged conduct preceded that change.

A spokesman for ANZ said: “ANZ rejects the allegations regarding bank trading and the bank bill swap rate made in today’s statement of claim by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. ANZ will vigorously defend the legal action brought by the commission.”