RBS back in court over new LIBOR allegations

It’s back to court this week for the busy lawyers at RBS who are denying allegations that board members knew of Libor problems while the bank was still selling Libor-related products - namely the now notorious interest rate swaps.

The case, brought by Manchester-based developer Property Alliance Group (PAG), claims some of RBS’ board were aware in 2007 of “serious problems” with Libor — for which the bank has already been fined £390 million.

RBS rejects all the allegations and said it will “continue vigorously to defend this claim”.

It has previously claimed that the documents, which PAG believes show RBS knew about the Libor problems at the highest level, had already been produced in the course of various investigations.

The bank reached a settlement with regulators in 2013 over misdeeds relating to the manipulation of Swiss franc and Japanese yen Libor only. There have been no previous findings involving sterling Libor but part of the PAG alleges there was also sterling Libor-related misconduct.

The allegations are one of several in the case, which is focused on the alleged mis-selling of interest rate swaps by RBS to PAG between 2004 and 2008.

The PAG case is being led by Tim Lord QC, the lawyer who successfully acted for Guardian Care Homes in its case against Barclays’ Libor-related sales. Barclays eventually settled the case.

The PAG case, in front of Justice Asplin, is scheduled to last until July 29 with a judgment expected this year.