20 more banks were rigging interest rates: British bankers now facing criminal inquiry over scandal that was kept secret for years [1]
20 more banks were rigging interest rates: British bankers now facing criminal inquiry over scandal that was kept secret for years
- Barclays shares drop 15 per cent as pressure on Diamond grows
- George Osborne promises new criminal sanctions for market abusers
- RBS, HSBC and Lloyds all named as under investigation as scandal widens
By JAMES CHAPMAN [2], BECKY BARROW [3], RUTH SUNDERLAND [4] and ROB DAVIES [5]
Hundreds of bankers across three continents are embroiled in the interest-rate fixing scandal that has left Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond fighting to save his job.
As pressure intensified on Britain’s highest paid banking boss to quit, MPs heard a string of other financial institutions across the world were under investigation.
At least 20 banks are believed to be under suspicion, with growing demands for a criminal investigation.
Barclays’ shares crashed by 15.5 per cent in a day as the implications sank in, wiping £3.7billion from its value, with other banks also hit.
Barclays has been fined £290million after devastating emails revealed that its traders manipulated the London Interbank Rate (Libor) – the rate at which banks lend money to each other.
Chancellor George Osborne told the Commons the exchanges ‘read like an epitaph to an age of irresponsibility’.
Category:
- Freedom Project [7]