By Swati Pandey
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) said on Wednesday that it has suspended seven staff involved in a regulatory investigation into the fixing of benchmark interbank interest rates.
The suspension, the first by an Australian bank, followed a review by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) of all Australian banks for possible rate-setting.
Global regulators have been reforming rate-setting practices after banks including Barclays Plc, UBS AG, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc were hit with fines totalling billions of dollars for rigging the London Interbank Offered Rate, known as Libor.
Inter-bank rates such as Libor are used to price home loans, credit cards and other financial products worth trillions of dollars.
In a statement to Reuters on Wednesday, ASIC said it is investigating ANZ, "including the conduct of individuals" but would not comment further as the investigation was ongoing.
Nigel Williams, chief risk officer of ANZ, said the bank was cooperating with ASIC.
"This is a complex issue, and ASIC's investigation and ANZ's internal review may not be complete for some time," Williams said in a statement.
ANZ did not provide details about the suspended traders or the scope of the investigation.
Earlier this year, ASIC censured French lender BNP Paribas and the Royal Bank of Scotland Group after revealing its traders tried to influence the setting of Australia's Bank Bill Swap Reference Rate (BBSW) mechanism.
Reuters reported in June that ASIC was ramping up its investigation over the BBSW rate fixing, seeking six to seven years of data from banks and more detailed information.
(Additional reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Miral Fahmy and Ryan Woo)