Australia's ANZ dismisses employee as regulator probes rate fixing

SYDNEY, July 31 (Reuters) - Australia and New Zealand Banking Group said on Friday that it has dismissed an employee involved in a regulatory investigation into the fixing of benchmark interbank interest rates.

The employee was dismissed in November as a "precautionary measure," ANZ said in a statement.

The bank had then suspended seven staff following a review by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission of all Australian banks for possible rate-setting.

"This disciplinary action relates to inappropriate electronic communication and is not related to markets trading practices," ANZ said.

"Investigations related to other staff have either been completed or are ongoing."

Interbank rates such as Libor are used to price home loans, credit cards and other financial products worth trillions of dollars. (Reporting by Swati Pandey; Editing by Ryan Woo)