Libor manipulation scandal
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The Real Villain is the One Behind the Curtain in the Libor Scandal
There's nothing like pulling back the curtain on the fraud that's center stage in the Libor manipulation scandal and finding the levers are really being pulled by central banks.
It's not about the banks doing what they did. The revelation is this: Central banks are the biggest impediment to free markets and the reason capital markets have become casinos.
And until the tyranny of their grip is broken, the majority of public investors are going to rightfully sit on the sidelines and long-term economic growth will be impossible.
The Libor scandal is just a sideshow. There's nothing new there.
Banks manipulated Libor (the London Interbank Offered Rate), the benchmark for over 800 trillion dollars in interest rate-sensitive loans and financial instruments, to jack up profits on trading positions they held.
Bankers scheming, lying and cheating for bigger bonuses at the expense of anyone in their way...that's news?
No, but here's the real inside scoop...
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Libor Manipulation Scandal: Who Will Be Next?
Barclays Plc (NYSE ADR: BCS) paid out over $450 million in fines for its role in the Libor manipulation scandal, but who will be the next guilty party?
One thing's for sure: Regulators are on the hunt.
The New York Federal Reserve last week confirmed that U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sent a memo to British regulators in 2008 over concerns of banks manipulating Libor.
Geithner maintained that he and the Fed sent a long list of recommendations to the Bank of England and the British Bankers' Association, which oversees the Libor-setting process.
In light of the scandal, U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke was questioned about the Fed's inaction regarding Libor manipulation at his testimony before Congress on Tuesday.
Bernanke also made clear that the Fed was not aware that Barclays was manipulating the rates for its own profit. Instead the Fed believed the bank was simply manipulating rates to maintain the appearance that everything was fine with the company (which surely wouldn't affect a bank's profit...).
Bernanke insisted the Fed followed up on the disclosures and that in cases like this there is not much more U.S. regulators can do than make suggestions.
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