Britain's RBS expects "significant" Libor penalties

LONDON Feb 6 (Reuters) - British lender Royal Bank of Scotland said on Wednesday it expected to pay "significant penalties" to settle regulatory probes into interest rate rigging.

RBS, 82 percent state-owned after receiving a taxpayer-funded bailout in the 2008 crisis, said it was in "late stage settlement discussions" with regulators in the Britain and the United States, but no fines had yet been agreed.

"RBS will update the market on all pertinent issues relating to this matter shortly," it said, adding that it also expected regulators to impose other sanctions beyond the fines.

The bank is expected to pay a fine of between 400 million pounds and 500 million pounds ($626-783 million).