UBS to plead guilty to market manipulation, pay $545 million in fines

UBS will plead guilty to market manipulation charges, pay $545 million — (Image credit: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

On Wednesday, Swiss bank UBS AG said it would plead guilty to manipulating benchmark interest rates and pay a total of $545 million in penalties to U.S. authorities to resolve those charges and new ones related to currency manipulation. The Swiss bank blamed the currency manipulation on "a small number of employees" and noted that it had alerted U.S. authorities to the potential misconduct.

Aside from the $342 million penalty for its foreign-exchange meddling, UBS won't face any other legal repercussions in that case, though several other large banks are expected to announce settlements with U.S. regulators in coming weeks. The $203 million fine and guilty plea stems from an earlier case, and UBS has to pay up now because the new fraud charges prompted the Justice Department to tear up a 2012 non-prosecution agreement with the bank. With the new fines, UBS has paid out $2.8 billion to U.S., British, and Swiss regulators for market manipulation.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.