JPMorgan, HSBC and Credit Agricole accused of euro rate-fixes

Should the banks be fined, they will not receive any reduction in penalties, competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia said

The European Commission has accused JPMorgan, HSBC and Credit Agricole of colluding to fix a key euro benchmark borrowing rate - Euribor.

JP Morgan and HSBC will fight the charges. Credit Agricole will study the European Commission's findings.

Penalties for the guilty are up to 10% of annual revenue.

Euribor is a cousin to Libor, which is used to set trillions of dollars of financial contracts from complex financial transactions to car loans.

In December, the Commission imposed fines totalling 1.04bn on Barclays, Deutsche Bank, RBS and Societe Generale as part of the same investigation.

Barclays escaped a fine as it had notified the Commission of the existence of the cartel, and the others were granted a 10% reduction in their fine for agreeing to a settlement.