The U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) launched the first criminal proceedings against 10 bankers for manipulating the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (EURIBOR) on Friday.
Six employees of Deutsche Bank and four of Barclays Bank will be charged with conspiracy to defraud. The SFO said it would issue criminal proceedings against other individuals "in due course" as its investigation continued.
Both Deutsche and Barclays declined to comment when contacted by CNBC.
The defendants will make their first appearance at Westminster Magistrates' Court in central London on January 11, 2016.
Euribor is the average rate at which large banks lend to each other in euros. It is a daily reference rate and is published by the European Banking Federation.
The SFO has already charged several bankers with manipulating Libor, a benchmark rate for various currencies and borrowing periods on which banks base their loans to each other. Over the past three years, Barclays Bank and Deutsche Bank have been among several banks heavily fined for manipulating Libor.
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Tom Hayes, who formerly worked at both Citigroup and UBS, was found guilty in the U.K. in August of conspiracy to defraud the Yen Libor setting process. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
10 people charged by the SFO on Friday:
- Christian Bittar (Deutsche Bank)
- Achim Kraemer (Deutsche Bank)
- Andreas Hauschild (Deutsche Bank)
- Joerg Vogt (Deutsche Bank)
- Ardalan Gharagozlou (Deutsche Bank)
- Kai-Uwe Kappauf (Deutsche Bank)
- Colin Bermingham (Barclays Bank)
- Carlo Palombo (Barclays Bank)
- Philippe Moryoussef (Barclays Bank)
- Sisse Bohart (Barclays Bank)
— By CNBC's Katy Barnato. Follow her on Twitter @KatyBarnato.