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A SENIOR banker has become the first to be convicted in Britain yesterday over the rigging of the Libor interbank lending rate, it emerged yesterday.
Neither the individual nor the bank can be named due to reporting restrictions.
The banker’s guilty plea to a charge of conspiracy to defraud was entered at Southwark Crown Court in London on Friday and can be reported now following a court ruling.
It follows a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into the alleged rigging of Libor. A number of others have been charged on separate allegations in relation to the practice.
The London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) is used for loans worth trillions of pounds and transactions around the world, from complex derivatives to mortgages.
It is a benchmark which indicates the interest rate that banks charge when lending to each other.
In recent years banks have paid out billions in penalties to international regulators to settle allegations of Libor fixing.
In a statement, the SFO said: “This is the first criminal conviction arising from the Serious Fraud Office’s Libor investigation. Eleven other individuals stand charged and await trial.
