UBS is expected to pay more than $450m (£280m) over claims some of its employees attempted to fix Libor rates, according to reports.

The New York Times said the bank was close to a settlement with US and British authorities. A company spokesman declined to comment on media reports and did not give any further details. He reiterated: "We are fully co-operating with authorities in the US and Britain in connection with Libor investigations."

A payment of approximately £280m would fall within the range of provisions. At the end of its third quarter UBS had set aside £600m for litigation, regulatory and similar matters. UBS was the first bank globally to report suspected rate rigging, and has said it has received conditional immunity from some authorities for co-operating in their investigations.

Barclays was fined a record £290m in June over the scandal.

Under its chairman Axel Weber, previously head of the Bundesbank, UBS has to navigate a way out of choppy waters. Last month German tax investigators raided hundreds of its clients on suspicion of tax evasion and the Financial Services Authority, the UK watchdog, fined the bank £30m following the jailing of its former trader Kweku Adoboli, who had made losses of over £1.5bn during three years of secretive off-the-book trades. Recently the Zurich-based bank decided to axe 10,000 jobs as it pulls out of areas of investment banking, such as bond trading, that are not profitable enough.

Barclays is the only bank to have been fined so far in the Libor scandal but last month Royal Bank of Scotland's chief executive, Stephen Hester, said that his bank is preparing to enter talks with regulators to settle Libor-rigging claims. Authorities in Europe, Japan and the US are investigating more than a dozen banks including HSBC, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse.