Deutsche traders suspended in Libor inquiry

Deutsche Bank suspended two traders after it brought in external auditors to look at whether its staff were involved in manipulating Libor interbank lending rates.

The German banking giant, which has extensive investment bank operations in London, admitted it had received subpoenas and requests for information about Libor from 2005 to as recently as last year from US and European regulators in its quarterly results in March. It declined to comment further yesterday after the German magazine Der Spiegel reported it had suspended two employees earlier this year.

Investigators around the world are examining more than a dozen big banks over allegations that the Libor rates were manipulated. Traders have been suspended, fired or placed on leave at banks including JP Morgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland and Citigroup as well as Deutsche.

At the end of last week, BaFin, the German market regulator, stepped up its investigation into Deutsche's role fixing Libor, designating it a "special investigation". The results of the inquiry are expected later this month, putting Deutsche in line to be the next major bank after Barclays in the spotlight over the Libor.

Deutsche is a member of the 10 panels of banks that submit interbank lending rates for the daily fixes in currencies ranging from sterling to the Japanese yen and Swiss franc.