A man uses a mobile phone in a branch of HSBC in St Helier, Jersey November 12, 2012. HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, is at the centre of an investigation by British tax authorities into leaked data that a newspaper said showed it provided accounts in the tax haven of Jersey for alleged criminals. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth
Bad banking
More than a dozen banks are investigated in Europe, Japan and the United States for suspected rigging of the London interbank offered rate, an interest rate used in contracts worth trillions. Barclays confesses; the scandal costs chief executive Bob Diamond and chairman Marcus Agius their jobs.
Three of the largest four fines ever given to banks are levied in December. HSBC agrees to pay a record $1.92 billion on money-laundering charges; UBS is fined $1.5 billion to settle charges of rigging Libor, and Standard Chartered is fined $667 million for breach of sanctions with Iran.
In Greece, conflicts of interest and governance issues emerge in the banking sector, while payment protection insurance (PPI) becomes one of the worst scandals in British financial history.
Read articles:
How gaming Libor became business as usual
Mis-sold loan insurance costs Lloyds another 1 billion pounds
Standard Chartered sees $330 million Iran fine, profit hit
HSBC might pay $1.8 billion money laundering fine
Greek central banker's big pay-off
A man uses a mobile phone in a branch of HSBC in St Helier, Jersey November 12, 2012. HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, is at the centre of an investigation by British tax authorities into leaked data that a newspaper said showed it provided accounts in the tax haven of Jersey for alleged criminals. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth
The letter "B" of the signage on the Barclays headquarters in Canary Wharf is hoisted up the side of the building in London July 20, 2012. Barclays executives admitted to rigging the London-based Libor rate. REUTERS/Simon Newman
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