Deutsche Bank, Barclays Euribor Traders' Trial Delayed to 2018

(Bloomberg) -- The trial of six former Barclays Plc and Deutsche Bank AG traders charged with manipulating a key interest-rate benchmark will be postponed to January from September, a London judge ruled.

The decision, made at a hearing Wednesday, affects former Deutsche Bank trader Christian Bittar and one-time colleague Achim Kraemer, and former Barclays traders Sisse Bohart, Philippe Moryoussef, Carlo Palombo and Colin Bermingham, who are all accused of rigging the euro interbank-offered rate, the euro counterpart to Libor.

The group is charged with conspiring with other bank employees between Jan. 1, 2005, and Dec. 31, 2009, to "procure or make submissions" in relation to Euribor, that were false. They were charged by the U.K. Serious Fraud Office, which is prosecuting the case, in November 2015 and entered not guilty pleas in February. A number of them are based outside the U.K. in countries including Singapore and Denmark.

The case will be the first to go to trial over the Euribor benchmark allegations.

To contact the reporter on this story: Suzi Ring in London at sring5@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser