Over 30 UBS employees and senior managers are reported to be implicated in the alleged libor rigging scandal, with the Swiss Bank estimated to pay around $1.5bn to settle charges.

UBS is close to finalising a deal with UK, US and Swiss authorities in which the bank will pay close to $1.5bn and its Japanese securities subsidiary will plead guilty to a US criminal offence. Despite this, reports from Reuters and the Financial Times say the "bank will not lose its ability to conduct business in Japan".

The company will admit that roughly 36 of its traders around the globe manipulated the libor rate, the rate at which banks lend to one another, between 2005 and 2010.

Last week the Serious Fraud Office arrested three people as part of their investigation into the libor fixing scandal. Tom Hayes, a former trader at both UBS and Citigroup, Terry Farr and Jim Gilmour, both employees of interdealer broker RP Martin. They were bailed without charge pending further investigation.

The $1.5bn figure that UBS is predicted to pay is significantly higher than the $450m levied against British bank Barclays in June for similar libor rigging.

Written and presented by Alfred Joyner