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September 05, 2012 at 05:39 AM
The European Commission (EC) has begun discussions with the financial industry to determine a means of subjecting benchmark indices to restrictions that will make them less prone to manipulation, even as regulatory filings reveal that Barclays terminated a trader and an executive at the end of July for their roles in LIBOR fixing.
Reuters reported Wednesday that the EC issued a report, along with a public questionnaire, that expressed its concerns over manipulation of benchmark rates such as the London interbank offered rate (LIBOR) and also laid out its intent to impose restrictions on how the rates are compiled and put into effect.
“The international investigations underway into the manipulation of LIBOR have revealed yet another example of unacceptable behavior by banks,” said a statement by Michel Barnier, the European commissioner in charge of regulation. He continued: “Wider work is required to regulate how indices and benchmarks are compiled, produced and used.”
The LIBOR scandal is apparently not finished with Barclays yet, either, even after claiming three of its top executives. Regulatory filings from the bank showed that on July 29, FINRA was notified that the executive, a managing director and for six years head of U.S. interest rate trading in New York, Ritankar “Ronti” Pal, was “discharged” on July 30.
