Have Banks Been Manipulating Libor for DECADES?
by George Washington
ZeroHedge.com
07/06/2012
We’ve previously noted that Libor manipulation has been going on since at least 2005 … and continued long after the manipulation was first reported.
James Bianco notes today that the Financial Times started reporting on the manipulation in 2007, and the Wall Street Journal in 2008 (see this, this, this and this).
But as the Economist reports today, the manipulation probably goes back a lot further:
The FSA has identified price-rigging dating back to 2005, yet some current and former traders say that problems go back much further than that. “Fifteen years ago the word was that LIBOR was being rigged,” says one industry veteran closely involved in the LIBOR process. “It was one of those well kept secrets, but the regulator was asleep, the Bank of England didn’t care and…[the banks participating were] happy with the reference prices.” Says another: “Going back to the late 1980s, when I was a trader, you saw some pretty odd fixings…With traders, if you don’t actually nail it down, they’ll steal it.”
The Rest…HERE
