Ex-derivatives trader at Deutsche Bank fined £180k for Libor scheme

Former Deutsche Bank trader Guillaume Adolph fined £180,000 and banned from industry by the FCA.

A former short-term interest rate derivatives trader at Deutsche Bank has been fined £180,000 and banned from the industry for manipulating Libor submissions.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found that between July 2008 and March 2010, Guillaume Adolph manipulated Libor submissions with the help of a trader at another panel bank.

Adolph acted as the Deutsche Bank’s primary JPY Libor submitter but made requests to the bank’s primary CHF Libor submitters to adjust submissions according to his trading positions.

He also agreed with a trader at another bank to make JPY Libor submissions based on the trader’s requests.

A final notice issued by the FCA said: “Adolph was motivated by profit when making requests to Deutsche’s CHF Libor submitters and when making JPY submissions which took his own trading positions into account.

“He also knew that in making requests to him, external trader B was motivated by profit and seeking to benefit external trader B’s trading positions.”

Deutsche Bank was fined £227 million by the FCA in April 2015 for its role in Libor and Euribor scandals.

The case against Deutsche Bank covered 29 individuals across its businesses not just in London but Frankfurt, Tokyo and New York. The individuals manipulated submissions for multiple currency benchmarks at various times between 2005 and 2010.

The £227 million fine was the largest issued by the UK regulator at the time, after several major institutions were found to have deliberately submitted misleading reports for the key financial benchmarks.

“Adolph improperly influenced several of Deutsche’s LIBOR submissions in disregard of standards governing LIBOR submissions,” Mark Steward, director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA commented.

“Adolph’s misconduct threatened the integrity of important benchmarks. He should have no further role in the financial services industry.”

He received a discount to the original £200,000 financial penalty after agreeing to settle prior to the decision notice.

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