Judge dismisses Euribor case against RBS

A London judge has ruled in favour of the Royal Bank of Scotland over a billion-euro (£869 million) dispute with the owner of Banco Santander’s Madrid headquarters, dismissing the claims as “contrived”.

Spanish property firm Marme Inversiones had claimed that RBS manipulated the European interest rate benchmark, affecting a 1.6 billion euro finance package used to buy Santander’s Madrid office.

It argued that the interest rate swap deal with RBS was tied to the manipulated benchmark, and asked a judge to cancel the swap.

The claim was lodged against RBS’s subsidiary NatWest Markets, Nordbank, Bayerische Landesbank, ING Bank and Caixabank.

However, the judge dismissed the claims against the banks on Monday.

In court documents, Mr Justice Picken said: “The Euribor representations which Marme has alleged are simply not obvious. They are, on the contrary, contrived and cannot properly be described as capable of being implied from any ‘clear words or clear conduct’ in this case.”

RBS said in a statement: “We welcome the comprehensive judgment dismissing all of the claims against the bank.”

The court documents show that Marme owes NatWest over 223 million euros (£193.8 million) plus interest.