New York, April 24 (IANS): Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay a $2.5-billion fine to settle US and British accusations that more than 20 employees engaged in a "widespread effort" to rig benchmark interest rates for profit between 2005 and 2009, officials said on Thursday.

New York State's Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), which was among the global regulators involved in the settlement, said in a press release that under the terms of the deal, the bank must terminate or ban from the New York banking system those remaining employees involved in the misconduct.

A number of other former Deutsche Bank employees implicated in the violations have already left the financial institution, Efe news agency reported citing NYDFS.

"Deutsche Bank employees engaged in a widespread effort to manipulate benchmark interest rates for financial gain," Benjamin M. Lawsky, New York state's superintendent of financial services, said.

"We must remember that markets do not just manipulate themselves: It takes deliberate wrongdoing by individuals."

The benchmark interest rates that were manipulated by traders in London, New York, Frankfurt and Tokyo included the London InterBank Offered Rate (Libor), the primary benchmark for short term interest rates globally; the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor); and Euroyen Tokyo Interbank Offered Rate (Tibor).

Those three benchmark rates are collectively known as Ibor.

"Certain Deutsche Bank traders frequently requested that certain submitters submit rate contributions that would benefit the traders' trading positions, rather than the rates that complied with the Ibor definitions," the NYDFS release said.