HJ: It is very reassuring to see major mainstream media news outlets like Reuters not dropping the ball on the LIBOR scandal story– letting it get overshadowed by tragic distractions in Bulgaria or Colorado or even celebrations like the Olympics. This scandal goes right to the core of the banking industry and if played to its fullest, could be the wildcard that brings the whole mess tumbling down. Does anyone else notice that Reuters seems to be the MSMS news outlet that reports the most scathing and ‘truthful’ (a relative term when talking about the MSM) news lately? – Truth
At least three banks seen central to Libor rigging
(Reuters) – New details from court documents and sources close to the Libor scandal investigation suggest that groups of traders working at three major European banks were heavily involved in rigging global benchmark interest rates.
Some of those traders, including one who used to work at Barclays Plc in New York, still have senior positions on Wall Street trading desks.
Until now, most of the attention has involved traders at Barclays, which last month reached a $453 million settlement with U.S. and UK authorities for its role in the manipulation of rates. Now, it is becoming clear that traders from at least two other banks – UK-based Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Switzerland’s UBS AG – played a central role.
Among them, the three banks employed more than a dozen traders who sought to influence rates in either dollar, euro or yen rates. Some of the traders who are being probed have worked for several banks under scrutiny, raising the possibility that the rate fixing became more ingrained as traders changed jobs.
The documents reviewed by Reuters in analyzing the traders’ involvement included court filings by Canadian regulators who have been investigating potential antitrust issues; settlement documents with Barclays filed by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington and by the Financial Services Authority in the U.K.; and a private employment lawsuit filed by a former RBS trader in Singapore’s High Court.
Read the rest of the article here: Reuters
