Barclays fined for manipulating LIBOR rates

ancona said:

This is regulatory theater at best.

Anyone who thinks this was rogue traders is a fuckig idiot at best and a retard at worst. These guys were under orders, and if any them has a set of fucking balls, they will throw management under the bus as htey should do. The obfuscating begins. We'll see.

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ancona said:

This is regulatory theater at best.

Anyone who thinks this was rogue traders is a fuckig idiot at best and a retard at worst. These guys were under orders, and if any them has a set of fucking balls, they will throw management under the bus as htey should do. The obfuscating begins. We'll see.

Click to expand...

PMBug said:

His daddy designed the algo that calculates FICO (credit) scores. I had not heard about him having any direct involvment in LIBOR computer systems (but I'm not paying that much attention to the story admittedly).

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A senior yen trader at Royal Bank of Scotland made a revealing observation in mid-2007 about the bank panel that sets the borrowing rate in Japanese yen.

"The jpy libor is a cartel now. It's just amazing how libor fixing can make you that much money," the senior trader wrote in an instant message to traders at two other banks, according to a filing by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

On Wednesday RBS admitted to manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate in yen and Swiss francs between 2006 to 2010 and agreed to pay L390 million to the CFTC, US Department of Justice, and the UK's Financial Services Authority. Its Japan subsidiary pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
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The attempts at manipulation within RBS were so casual that one trader joked that he moved his fixes day to day as much as a prostitute draws up and down her underwear, while a broker at another firm offered a RBS rate submitter a steak dinner in exchange for a favourable fix, according to the CFTC order.
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Before the STM desk was physically separated in late 2008, there were relatively few written exchanges, but they included one conversation in which a trader asked for a low submission on Swiss francs. "What's it worth?" the submitter asked. "I've got some sushi rolls from yesterday," the trader responded.

After the separation, the electronic conversations became more frequent. However, the nature did not change. "Libors as requested," a submitter wrote in 2009. "You a top dog." The messages and emails laid an evidence trail that authorities would eventually follow.
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Traders' requests were frequent and often changed direction. In September 2009 a RBS submitter moved the submission high one day for a yen trader and then lower the next day. "... Make your mind up haha," the submitter said.

"I'm like a whore's drawers," the yen trader replied.
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Deutsche Bank has suspended more traders as part of an inquiry into whether staff attempted to manipulate inter-bank interest rates.

The BBC understands that five traders, based in Frankfurt, were suspended on Tuesday.

Deutsche has been looking into alleged manipulation of the Libor and Euribor benchmark lending rates.
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Deutsche said in a statement: "Upon discovering that certain employees acted inappropriately, we have suspended or dismissed employees, clawed back unvested compensation, and will continue to do so as we complete our investigation."

The bank declined to confirm how many staff were suspended on Tuesday, nor how many had previously been dismissed or suspended.

The BBC understands, however, that Deutsche dismissed at least two traders last month in connection with its internal inquiries over whether Libor was manipulated.

The traders in Frankfurt were suspended over Euribor - a benchmark rate based on the rate at which banks based in in the eurozone can borrow, in contrast to Libor which is based on the borrowing cost of London-based banks.
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