Friday, July 13, 2012

Libor scandal: Bankers discussed concerns in 2008

Sir Mervyn King (left) and Timothy Geithner

Mr Geithner, then head of the New York Federal Reserve, called for changes to the rate-setting system.

He said these should include procedures to prevent misreporting.

The Bank of England said concerns were widespread at the time, but there was then no evidence of wrongdoing.

Several banks are being investigated for allegedly manipulating Libor, the daily figure which reflects the amount that banks are charging to lend each other money and is the benchmark for millions of financial transactions.

It stands for London Interbank Offered Rate and is made up of banks' own estimates of its borrowing costs.

Barclays has agreed to pay a fine of £290m ($450m) to UK and US authorities for giving inaccurate figures and trying to manipulate Libor rates, either for profit or to reduce concerns about its financial stress.

The Bank of England said the two men had met in May 2008 at a meeting of central bankers in Basel.

Mr Geithner then sent Sir Mervyn a series of recommendations for enhancing the credibility of Libor.

This included one which would "eliminate the incentive to misreport", the document, released by the Bank of England, showed.

It suggested that figures be published without identifying which banks may have had particularly high or low borrowing costs.

There was a great deal of concern, both within Barclays and the government, as to why Barclays' Libor submissions were higher than other banks at the height of the financial crisis at the end of 2008.

The led some to fear that, after the part-nationalisations of RBS, Lloyds and HBOS, Barclays would be next, deputy Bank of England governor Paul Tucker told MPs on the Treasury committee earlier this month.

Mr Tucker also described the Bank of England's unease about the Libor system in the spring of 2008, at about the same time that Sir Mervyn and Timothy Geithner were discussing the issue.

He told MPs during his evidence session that he had personally rung the major banks at that time, urging them to take seriously the review of Libor that the British Bankers' Association - which runs the system - was then carrying out.



Source & Image : BBC

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