The UK watchdog has banned a former bank trader for rigging dollar-denominated LIBOR rates.

The Financial Conduct Authority, the UK regulator, has banned a former Deutsche Bank trader from the financial services industry after being convicted for fraud in the US in connection with LIBOR-rigging.

The ban applies to Michael Ross Curtler, the FCA said in a statement today.

On 8 October last year, Curtler pleaded guilty before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for his role in a conspiracy to manipulate Deutsche’s US dollar LIBOR submissions, the statement said.

The case relates to how banks rigged inter-bank interest rate markets, a scandal that has surfaced in recent years and which has shaken confidence in the system, prompting calls for reform, tighter regulation and oversight.

Curtler was employed by Deutsche between 1993 and December 2012. During the period between 2000 and 2012 Curtler traded a variety of financial instruments that were tied to US dollar LIBOR. On occasions he submitted Deutsche’s US dollar LIBOR submissions. Curtler received requests from Deutsche traders to alter these LIBOR submissions. These requests were made to benefit the trading positions of Deutsche and the individual traders.  Curtler made alterations to the submissions consistent with these requests. 

Curtler also solicited requests from traders and changed his LIBOR submissions accordingly, the regulator added.