RBS Singapore
Former RBS trader Tan Chi Min has said he'd been made a scapegoat for managers amid Libor fixing allegations (Reuters)

A former Royal Bank of Scotland trader fired for allegedly trying to rig the benchmark rate Libor has dropped his court claim of unfair dismissal.

Tan Chi Min was head of delta trading for RBS's global banking and markets division in Singapore when he was sacked in November 2011 for gross misconduct.

He had been pursuing RBS through Singapore's High Court claiming unfair dismissal on the allegation that the bank's managers condoned staff attempting to manipulate Libor artificially high or low to maximise profits. Tan said he had been made a "scapegoat" for managers.

Tan's withdrawal of his lawsuit, reported by Bloomberg, comes as RBS is one of eight banks fined a combined €1.71bn (£1.42bn, $2.32bn) by the European Commission for attempting to manipulate Libor and Euribor.

RBS bankers were caught up in two cartels, one in euro interest-rate derivatives market and the other in a Japanese yen.

RBS was fined €391m in total. The bank's chairman Philip Hampton said it was a "sobering reminder" of past bad behaviour.

"We acknowledged back in February that there were serious shortcomings in our systems and controls on this issue, but also in the integrity of a very small number of our employees," said Hampton.

"Today is another sobering reminder of those past failings and nobody should be in any doubt about how seriously we have taken this issue.

"The RBS board and new management team condemn the behaviour of the individuals who were involved in these activities. There is no place for it at RBS."

RBS is 81% owned by the UK taxpayer after it was bailed out with £45bn at the height of the financial crisis.

The bank's latest hefty fine follows a £390m fine settlement for Libor fixing from UK and US regulators in February, as well as millions more in fines and litigation costs for the mis-selling of derivatives to small businesses and Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) to consumers.