EU examines role of banks in setting Libor

London: European Union anti-trust regulators are examining whether banks manipulated the daily London interbank offered rate, according to two people familiar with the probe.

The Commission sent banks requests for information last month on how rates are calculated, according to the people who declined to be identified because the discussions are private.

The EU probe into Libor adds to UK and US financial regulators' inquiries into the possible breach of rules governing the benchmark borrowing rate. Barclays, the UK's third-largest bank by assets, said last week that it was cooperating with US and British regulators on their Libor investigations.

EU regulators last week opened an anti-trust investigation into Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and 14 other investment banks over agreements in the market for credit-default swaps that may harm competition.

Amelia Torres, a spokeswoman for the Brussels-based commission, declined to comment on the Libor probe.

UBS AG, Switzerland's biggest bank, said in March it received demands for information from US and Japanese authorities investigating possible attempts to manipulate the setting of Libor.

Libor rates, a benchmark for more than $350 trillion of financial products worldwide, are set daily by the British Bankers Association based on data from banks reflecting how much it would cost them to borrow for various periods of time and in different currencies.