Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Slaughter and May and King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin (KWM) have taken roles as eight global banks reach a settlement with the European Commission (EC) for forming illegal cartels to rig interest rate derivatives.

The EC today (4 December) fined eight banks – including the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Deutsche Bank – a total of €1.7bn (£1.4bn) for their roles in rigging interest rates in euro- and Japanese yen-denominated derivatives.

Other banks to be penalised for breaking EU competition rules include JPMorgan, Citigroup and RP Martin.

Societe Generale was also fined for its manipulation of Euribor, while Barclays escaped a £572m fine for revealing the existence of the cartel.

The bank to receive the lowest fine (£58m) was Citigroup, which turned to a Brussels-based Cleary team led by competition partner Robbert Snelders and included associates Luuk Bressers, Max Kaufman and Romanie Dendooven.

KWM, which has played a role in co-ordinating RBS' dealings with regulators across the globe, took the lead for the bank on its €391m (£325m) settlement with the EC.

The firm's team was led by London competition partner Tom Usher, with support from associates Emma Radcliffe, Fiona beattie, Lisa Kaltenbrunner and Tonia Gilbert.

Clifford Chance – which previously acted for RBS in its Libor settlement with UK regulators – is understood to have acted for Barclays on the latest settlement.

Elsewhere, Slaughters' competition litigation head Michael Rowe acted for Deutsche Bank, which received the largest penalty of all the banks (£602m). Rowe was assisted by Will Turtle, Vassilena Karadakova and Murray Reeve.

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher acted for Swiss bank UBS, which was spared any penalty by regulators after it revealed the existence of a Yen interest rate derivatives cartel.

London-based senior disputes partner Philip Rocher – who also advised the bank on its £160m settlement with UK regulators last year – acted for UBS alongside Brussels competition partner David Wood.

Pinsent Masons' senior competition partner Alan Davis also took a role for broker RP Martin, which was fined £205,000 for its role in the yen cartel.

Speaking on the settlement, EC vice-president for competition policy Joaquin Almunia said: "What is shocking about the Libor and Euribor scandals is not only the manipulation of benchmarks, which is being tackled by financial regulators worldwide, but also the collusion between banks who are supposed to be competing with each other.

"Today's decision sends a clear message that the Commission is determined to fight and sanction these cartels in the financial sector. Healthy competition and transparency are crucial for financial markets to work properly, at the service of the real economy rather than the interests of a few."