By Sam Holmes 
 

SINGAPORE--An ex-Royal Bank of Scotland PLC (RBS) trader in Singapore fired last year for allegedly attempting to influence the setting of key benchmark interest rates claims his former employer omitted key information about its rate-setting practices in records pertaining to his disciplinary hearings.

Tan Chi Min, a Malaysian national who was previously head of delta trading with RBS's global banking and markets division in Singapore, was fired in November last year after RBS claimed he improperly influenced the setting of benchmark interbank rates, documents filed with the Singapore High Court show.

Mr. Tan is now seeking 1.95 million Singapore dollars (US$1.57 million) in bonuses and 3.3 million shares he asserts he is entitled to as a result of the dismissal.

Mr. Tan has argued throughout the case, which commenced late last year, that is common practice for senior bank employees to make requests to RBS's rate setters about appropriate rates.

In the most recent court documents filed last week, Mr. Tan said the minutes of his disciplinary hearing held in September last year omitted points of discussion about various examples of attempts to influence rate setters.

In particular, he claims the minutes made no mention of discussions pertaining to one client's requests for a certain fixing of the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, nor to various written and oral communications between managers and staff conveying requests for such inputs be either "high" or "low."

Regulators in countries including the U.S. and Japan are probing various financial institutions over alleged manipulation of key benchmark interbank rates, notably Libor.

The probes have prompted several banks to withdraw from panels that set rates. For instance, Barclays PLC (BCS), is set to withdraw from a panel that sets base interbank interest rates in the United Arab Emirates, according to people familiar with the matter.

In Singapore, RBS last month stopped submitting data to the city-state's interbank lending panel.

Mr. Tan also asserts RBS, in terminating his employment last year, didn't provide particulars about his alleged attempts to influence its rate setters.

Mr. Tan's role at RBS included providing the bank's rate setters with input in relation to various short-term interbank rates for submission to various interest-rate fixing bodies, such as the British Bankers' Association, which sets the Libor rate.

RBS in its defense earlier this year said Tan sought to improperly influence the bank's rate setters between 2007 and 2011 "by communicating requests to have the defendant's submitted Libor rates set at particular levels" in order to profit his own book and the bank and to maximize profit generally.

An RBS spokeswoman declined to comment.

Write to Sam Holmes at samuel.holmes@dowjones.com