Deutsche Bank suspends traders for alleged Libor-rigging

Deutsche Bank has already set aside money to cover any litigation costs

Deutsche Bank has suspended more traders as part of an inquiry into whether staff attempted to manipulate inter-bank interest rates.

The BBC understands that five traders, based in Frankfurt, were suspended on Tuesday.

Deutsche has been looking into alleged manipulation of the Libor and Euribor benchmark lending rates.

On Wednesday, Royal Bank of Scotland was fined £390m by UK and US regulators for attempting to rig Libor.

Libor and Euribor are used to price hundreds of trillions of pounds worth of financial contracts, including loans and mortgages to businesses and individuals.

Deutsche said in a statement: "Upon discovering that certain employees acted inappropriately, we have suspended or dismissed employees, clawed back unvested compensation, and will continue to do so as we complete our investigation."

The bank declined to confirm how many staff were suspended on Tuesday, nor how many had previously been dismissed or suspended.

The BBC understands, however, that Deutsche dismissed at least two traders last month in connection with its internal inquiries over whether Libor was manipulated.

The traders in Frankfurt were suspended over Euribor - a benchmark rate based on the rate at which banks based in in the eurozone can borrow, in contrast to Libor which is based on the borrowing cost of London-based banks.

Deutsche has already said it has set aside money to cover any litigation costs over rate-rigging.

More than a dozen financial firms, including JP Morgan and Citigroup of the US, are being investigated by regulators over Libor and Euribor.

In December, UBS agreed to pay fines of $1.5bn (£940m) to US, UK and Swiss regulators for attempting to manipulate Libor. Barclays has been fined £290m for the same offence.