Secret recording implicates Bank of England in LIBOR rigging

By Andy Verity
British Broadcasting Corp., London
Monday, April 10, 2017

A secret recording that implicates the Bank of England in Libor rigging has been uncovered by BBC Panorama.

The 2008 recording adds to evidence the central bank repeatedly pressured commercial banks during the financial crisis to push their Libor rates down.

Libor is the rate at which banks lend to each other, setting a benchmark for mortgages and loans for ordinary customers.

The Bank of England said Libor was not regulated in the UK at the time.

The recording calls into question evidence given in 2012 to the Treasury select committee by former Barclays boss Bob Diamond and Paul Tucker, the man who went on to become the deputy governor of the Bank of England.

Libor, the London Interbank Offered Rate, tracks how much it costs banks to borrow money from each other. As such it is a big influence on the cost of mortgages and other loans.

Banks setting artificially low Libor rates is called lowballing.

In the recording, a senior Barclays manager, Mark Dearlove, instructs Libor submitter Peter Johnson, to lower his Libor rates.

He tells him: "The bottom line is you're going to absolutely hate this. ... But we've had some very serious pressure from the UK government and the Bank of England about pushing our Libors lower."

Mr. Johnson objects, saying that this would mean breaking the rules for setting Libor, which required him to put in rates based only on the cost of borrowing cash.

Mr Johnson says: "So I'll push them below a realistic level of where I think I can get money?"

His boss Mr. Dearlove replies: "The fact of the matter is we've got the Bank of England, all sorts of people involved in the whole thing. ... I am as reluctant as you are. ... Tthese guys have just turned around and said just do it." ...

... For the remainder of the report:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-39548313