Rabobank is poised to announce the resignation of its CEO Piet Moerland as the Dutch lender reaches a roughly $1 billion
settlement of an investigation into attempted manipulation of benchmark interest rates, the Wall Street Journal reported this morning.
The Libor settlement cost the bank $1 billion and expectations of the Libor outcome may have had something to do with the bank withdrawing its title sponsorship from the Rabobank Cycling Team in October 2012. Even thought that funding was guaranteed to the team to the end of 2013, now the team is known as the Blanco Pro Cycling Team.
The women’s team, led by Marianne Vos, has continued as Rabobank Liv / Giant Team, but is being managed by its own independent foundation, established by Vos herself.
The bank also continued to support the Continental team, which it promised to do until at least 2016, but it is being managed by a new foundation established by the Dutch Cycling Federation, and is known as the Rabobank Development Team.
“Mr. Moerland will become one of the highest-profile casualties of the global probes into rigging of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, and other benchmarks,” said the WSJ. Top executives at Barclays resigned last year after the British bank became the first institution to settle Libor-rigging charges.
“Rabobank, a once-sleepy cooperative bank founded by Dutch farmers, is expected to become the fifth financial institution to settle allegations that its employees tried to rig Libor and the euro interbank offered rate, or Euribor,” reported the WSJ.
