What is LIBOR and why should we care? Let’s start with the first part of the question.
From Wikipedia:
The London Interbank Offered Rate is the average interest rate estimated by leading banks in London that they would be charged if borrowing from other banks.[1] It is usually abbreviated to Libor (
/ˈlaɪbɔr/) or LIBOR, or more officially to BBA Libor (for British Bankers’ Association Libor) or the trademark bbalibor. It is a benchmark, along with the Euribor, for interest rates all around the world.[2][3]
Libor rates are calculated for different lending periods: overnight, one week, one month, two months, six months, etc., and published daily at 11:00 by the British Bankers’ Association.[4] Many financial institutions, mortgage lenders and credit card agencies set their own rates relative to (and typically higher than) Libor.
Libor is defined as:
The rate at which an individual Contributor Panel bank could borrow funds, were it to do so by asking for and then accepting inter-bank offers in reasonable market size, just prior to 11.00 London time.
This definition is amplified as follows:
- The rate at which each bank submits must be formed from that bank’s perception of its cost of funds in the interbank market.
- Contributions must represent rates formed in London and not elsewhere.
- Contributions must be for the currency concerned, not the cost of producing one currency by borrowing in another currency and accessing the required currency via the foreign exchange markets.
- The rates must be submitted by members of staff at a bank with primary responsibility for management of a bank’s cash, rather than a bank’s derivative book.
- The definition of “funds” is: unsecured interbank cash or cash raised through primary issuance of interbank Certificates of Deposit.
The LIBOR fix on interest rates (dollar denominated) was established in 1985. Hundreds of the biggest banks from around the world agreed with the British Banking Association (BBA) to use the LIBOR rates as the benchmark for their operations. The sixteen biggest banks communicate with the BBA in Londom each business day relating what interest they would expect to pay if they were to borrow from member banks for different periods of time. The BBA then throws ouut the highest and lowest four suggested rates for each time period and then averages the remaining rates and then announces the LIBOR rate for each time period at 11:00 am each day.
Why should we care about the LIBOR? The LIBOR is the benchmark fromwich actual rates are negotiated in the market place and affects all futures contracts, variable rate mortgages, credit card rates, foreign exchange rate (dollar, and much more. Still, the LIBOR is not something the average American worries about the first thing every morning. There is no need to do so. The manner in which LIBOR is determined is reasonable and logical. But, what if some or all of the sixteen (TBTF) banks were manipulating the LIBOR to their benefit and at the expense of everyone else? Well, that is what is happening. It means that there is no such thing as a free market.
This is a huge scandal that has received little attention in the US media. So far Barclay’s Bank has been the center of attention. Barclay’s has been fined and the Chairman of the Board as well as the CEO have resigned. But, there is now evidence that the Bank of England and the Royal Scottish Bank are also involved. There is a good article at BBC News that gives a timeline showing that manipulation of the LIBOR goes back at least to 2005. Here is an excerpt from a story in the Telegraph:
“We have to get kicked out of the fixings tomorrow,” read the email. “We need a 4.17 fix in 1m. We need a 4.41 fix in 3m.”
The email, from a senior Barclays Capital trader in the bank’s offices in the MetLife building looking down over New York’s Park Avenue, to a trader in the bank’s London offices in Canary Wharf, could have seemed innocuous to the unknowing eye.
But what the American banker was doing was telling his British counterpart exactly where the bank needed the Libor – the London Interbank Offered Rate used to set interest rates for everything from mortgages to complex derivatives – to be fixed.
The Telegraph has another article titled: Libor scandal: Was Barclays the worst offender? . The point is, considering how sixteen banks supply information and the four highest and the four lowest are discarded, it would take more than two or three banks to manipulate the LIBOR. It might take all of the banks to do it. I had hoped to share with you a video that The republican Mother had on her blog yesterday that would have given you a good feel for just how serious this scandal is. Unfortunately the video has been pulled.
The bottom line is this: if anyone had any doubt the world’s biggest bank are in fact running the world, this scandal should put those doubts to rest. The LIBOR affects everyone on this planet that takes part in commerce. As i said earlier, there is no such thing as a free market anymore.
That’s what I’m thinking. What are your thoughts?
Related reading:
LIBOR banking scam – volume: 350,000 billion
Morning Smoke: Why is Nobody Freaking Out About the LIBOR Banking Scandal?
I am thinking that if we started dragging these bastard bankers out of their offices and mansion and and stringing them up, this crap would stop…
That would be nice, but what would we do with all that toxic waste?
Believe me, I understand the appeal of that approach, but we cannot become them in dealing with them.
Might I suggest we prosecute and jail them, and as part of their sentence, we confiscate whatever personal wealth they might have up to the amount we can prove they exploited through manipulation PLUS 20%. Mind you, if you have 5 CEO’s and can only show $5 million in damages, I would take $6 million from EACH! Even if it means leaving their families destitute.
Unless and until CORPORATIONS are dealt with and PEOPLE are returned to positions of INDIVIDUAL responsibility, the world will just keep circling the bowl.
At least, this is MY ‘opinion’ 🙂
“LIBOR Manipulation . . . It Matters”, yes, and yes.
Courageous soul you are who waddles into the intricacies of the setting of commercial and consumer interest rates and LIBOR, which most Americans confuse with some unsavory LABOR Union, and therefore they are sensibly against it.
I originally read those amazing emails between the American branch an the London trader. Apparently the fixing went on in both directions and at this point it is unclear which policies were affected and to what extent. We will have to wait for more information to percolate.
My experience tell me that as far as Americans are concerned, consumer loans and credit card loans could have been affected. Possibly mortgage rates to a lesser extent. LIBOR is mainly an indicator, and not a compulsory setting parameter.
Stayed tuned!
The LIBOR also can affect foreign exchage rates and those affect everything.
In other words, it is one more way to screw us. Did I get the bottom line?
That sounds about right to me!
Heh! You got it, Bunker; but I doubt you want to know what the prize is.
Shakespeare was wrong. The first thing we’ll do is kill all the bankers, not the lawyers.
Shakespeare wasn’t wrong; he just forgot one catagory.
Damn Jim, I never heard of this before. Leave it to crooked folks to mess things up.
We have only seen the tip of the iceberg on tis, Matt.
The agreement and monetary penalty recognize Barclays’ extraordinary cooperation. Barclays made timely, voluntary, and complete disclosure of its misconduct. After government authorities began investigating allegations that banks had engaged in manipulation of benchmark interest rates, Barclays was the first bank to cooperate in a meaningful way in disclosing its conduct relating to LIBOR and EURIBOR. Barclays’ disclosure included relevant facts that at the time were not known to the government. Barclays’s cooperation has been extensive, in terms of the quality and type of information and assistance provided, and has been of substantial value in furthering the department’s ongoing criminal investigation. Barclays has made a commitment to future cooperation with the department and other government authorities in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Great post laying it out for all to understand. The more the public finds out, even just a segment, the more you will see this country militarized because the banksters don’t want to get caught. They will stop at nothing. Remember how Paulson threatened martial law? How could he do that if they didn’t have the power to roll tanks in?
Pualson should be in jail!
Reblogged this on That Mr. G Guy's Blog and commented:
Just another straw on the Camel’s back.
Thanks for the reblog, Mike. I appreciate it very much.