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1. UBS PAYS $1.5 BILLION IN LIBOR SCANDAL

The Swiss banking giant UBS agreed to pay a record-breaking $1.5 billion in fines to settle charges that it had manipulated a benchmark global interest rate, the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor). The Libor is used to determine the interest rate of trillions of dollars worth of loans and other financial transactions, and UBS' manipulation of the rate allowed it to make millions in profits, at the expense of its competitors. UBS admitted to participating in the scheme, which lasted several years and allegedly involved several other mega-banks. The British bank Barclays in June paid $450 million to settle charges stemming from the scandal. [Reuters]

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Ryu Spaeth

Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.