R.B.S. Fighting Bid for Data in Rate Case

Even as lawmakers in London hammered a top Barclays executive over the bank’s role in a rate-rigging scandal, another financial firm that is largely owned by the British government is fighting an investigation into the vast scheme.

The Royal Bank of Scotland, one of more than 10 banks under scrutiny from authorities around the globe, is refusing to turn over crucial information to Canadian regulators, court documents from Ottawa show.

The bank, in which the British government holds an 82 percent stake, is an unlikely foe.

British lawmakers have taken the lead in publicly shaming executives and regulators who failed to curb interest rate manipulation before and after the 2008 financial crisis. And the pushback comes in contrast to the more conciliatory approach of several institutions ensnared by the global investigation.

Barclays, which last month agreed to pay $450 million to British and American authorities for improperly influencing interest rates, cooperated with the multiyear case, although it too dragged its heels on producing documents at first. Some European banks are now scrambling to strike deals with authorities, according to lawyers close to the case.

The Canadian court documents, collected over the last year, hinted that two other big banks were aiding authorities. Those banks are UBS and Citigroup, according to people close to the matter.

Many banks are trying to avoid the fallout that has hit Barclays, which has prompted the resignation of two top executives. On Monday, British politicians took aim at one of the Barclays executives, Jerry del Missier, the bank’s former chief operating officer. Barclays was “up to its armpits in dishonest activity,” said Pat McFadden, a British politician who sits on the committee overseeing the testimony.

The Royal Bank of Scotland said on Monday that it was “cooperating with regulators in their investigations.” But in the court documents, the bank said it was unable to share certain information with Canada’s Competition Bureau because of British law. Further, the bank said that sharing the documents would amount to an “unreasonable search and seizure” and violate its “privilege against self-incrimination.”

“We want to cooperate with the C.C.B. and have proposed ways to do that which allow us to comply with our English legal obligations,” the bank said in the statement.

The Canadian investigation spans from 2007 to mid-2010, and encompasses traders at JPMorgan Chase, UBS, Citibank, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland. UBS, the big Swiss bank, is a central target in the broader investigation.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the American regulator that started the interest rate investigation in 2008, is pursuing a potential civil case against the bank, according to people briefed on the matter. UBS has also already reached an immunity deal with an arm of the Justice Department, which could protect the bank from criminal prosecution under certain conditions.

While whispers of the wide-ranging investigation emerged in the early days of the 2008 financial crisis, the scandal came into focus last month when Barclays settled with the trading commission and the Justice Department and the British Financial Services Authority. Authorities had accused the bank of trying to manipulate an interest rate to protect profits and to project a stronger image of its health to skittish markets.

The inquiry centers on the London interbank offered rate, or Libor. The benchmark underpins the pricing on trillions of dollars in financial products, including mortgages and credit cards.

At least nine government agencies — including authorities in the United States, Canada, Britain, Switzerland and Japan — are examining wrongdoing. The Justice Department is also building potential criminal cases against big banks and their employees, including traders at Barclays, according to government officials close to the case.

The Canadian Competition Bureau, like other regulators, is investigating whether several banks colluded to manipulate interest rates. The Canadian regulator is focused on the Libor rates in Japan’s currency, the yen.

The Royal Bank of Scotland has been pushing back against the Canadian regulator.

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Ottawa has ordered the bank to turn over a variety of documents and records to the government. But the British institution is trying to quash the effort.

In that proceeding, lawyers for the bank argue that their unit in Canada does not have access to the material in question. Transferring it from the parent company to the Canadian unit, the bank argues, would violate British banking and data privacy laws.

But the argument is at odds with the aggressive approach British lawmakers have taken toward the Libor scandal. That the British government has a controlling stake in the Royal Bank of Scotland — and has not shied away from imposing its will on the bank — only adds to the curious standoff. In recent months, the government has moved to rein in executive compensation and curtail the bank’s risky businesses.

British politicians have been unflinching in their pursuit of Barclays.

At a parliamentary hearing on Monday, British lawmakers repeatedly asked Mr. del Missier why he was not aware of the manipulation of Libor at Barclays dating back to 2005. He indicated that he told employees to submit lower rates at the behest of regulators, but he said he was not aware of manipulation until 2010.

The political ire was not reserved for the bank alone. Politicians also harshly criticized one of the bank’s top regulators.

“This was unregulated, and you were warned about it,” George Mudie, a British politician who sits on the committee overseeing the testimony, said to Financial Services Authority officials.

“It should have been settled before this whole thing blew up.”

Mark Scott contributed reporting.