Swiss bankers, (UBS), has agreed to a $1.5bn fine after admitting to fraud and bribery in a deepening scandal over the rigging of global benchmark interest rates, a new report has said.

Dozens of UBS staff manipulated the Libor rate, which is used to price trillions of dollars worth of loans across three continents, in collusion with brokers and traders at other banks, according to an international investigation.

US prosecutors also lodged criminal charges on Wednesday against two former UBS senior traders for the Libor manipulation, the first individuals to be charged in the wide-ranging investigation that involves more than a dozen big banks.

The controversy is expected to ensnare other big lenders and spark civil lawsuits as well as other criminal proceedings against individuals involved.

The UBS penalty, issued by US, UK and Swiss authorities, far exceeds the $450m levied on Britain’s Barclays in June, also for rigging Libor, and is the second largest ever imposed on a bank.

“We deeply regret this inappropriate and unethical behavior. No amount of profit is more important than the reputation of this firm,” said UBS Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti.

The Libor benchmarks are used to set trillions of dollars worth of loans around the world, ranging from home loans to credit cards to complex derivatives.

Tiny shifts in the rate, compiled from daily polls of bankers, could benefit banks by millions of dollars. But every dollar benefiting one bank meant an equal loss by a bank, hedge fund or other investor on the other side of the trade – raising the threat of a raft of civil lawsuits.

“The big unknown factor is the civil litigation that could follow on as a result of this,” said Paras Anand, European equities head at Fidelity Worldwide Investment, one of UBS’ biggest investors. “The issue for shareholders is the challenge of pricing that risk in.”