As Libor Fault-Finding Grows, It Is Now Every Bank for Itself - NYT

[WillyT]

As Libor Fault-Finding Grows, It Is Now Every Bank for Itself
BY AZAM AHMED AND BEN PROTESS - NYT
8/5/12

<snip>

Major banks, which often band together when facing government scrutiny, are now turning on one another as an international investigation into the manipulation of interest rates gains momentum.

With billions of dollars and their reputations on the line, financial institutions have been spreading the blame in recent meetings with authorities, according to government and bank officials with knowledge of the matter. While acknowledging their own wrongdoing, institutions are pointing out actions at other banks that they believe are worse — and in some cases, extend to top executives.

One official involved in the case said that banks are emphasizing that “we’re not as bad as the next guy.”

The Swiss bank UBS, which has a history of regulatory run-ins, has shared e-mails, instant messages and other information suggesting it had colluded with traders at Deutsche Bank, HSBC and the Royal Bank of Scotland to manipulate key interest rates, according to court documents and bank employees. In talks with authorities, HSBC is providing its own account of the activities, according to a lawyer briefed on the matter. Citigroup has also detailed rate manipulation with other banks.

When the British bank Barclays recently negotiated a settlement with authorities, it highlighted that other European institutions took part in the rate-rigging scheme, said officials close to the case. Like UBS, Barclays has provided information on activities involving HSBC and Deutsche Bank.

Several banks are using Barclays’ $450 million settlement as a guidepost in preliminary discussions with authorities. JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup are each emphasizing to authorities that their chief executives were not implicated in the wrongdoing as in the case of Barclays, and therefore the banks deserve to be treated less severely, according to the officials.

<snip>

More: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/banks-in-libor-inquiry-are-said-to-be-trying-to-spread-blame/

[DJ13]

1. Love it

Grace Jones - Corporate Cannibal

[LiberalAndProud]

2. Drug dealers and money manipulators aren't so different.

I wonder if there is a kingpin in this scenario.

[banned from Kos]

3. sorry, you bank haters won't get any satisfaction here either - they are Euro-banks

that did the real Libor rigging.

And they rigged it DOWN - in favor of consumers (and themselves).

[The Magistrate]

5. Bit More To It Than That, Sir

Depressing rates reduces returns on many investments, and the rigging also benefited ( and was intended to benefit ) wagers on rates in derivatives markets, where, since every winner requires a loser, people lost on a tilted table.

[banned from Kos]

7. Quite true.

But debtors benefited the most with lower usury.

The debtors are the most oppressed. They are those most with the burden of the millstone ravaging them. The 'filthy lucre' and 'usura'

Canto LXV

With usura hath no man a house of good stone
each block cut smooth and well fitting
that delight might cover their face,

with usura

hath no man a painted paradise on his church wall
harpes et luthes
or where virgin receiveth message
and halo projects from incision,

with usura

seeth no man Gonzaga his heirs and his concubines
no picture is made to endure nor to live with
but it is made to sell and sell quickly

with usura, sin against nature,
is thy bread ever more of stale rags
is thy bread dry as paper,
with no mountain wheat, no strong flour

with usura the line grows thick

with usura is no clear demarcation
and no man can find site for his dwelling
Stone cutter is kept from his stone
weaver is kept from his loom

WITH USURA

wool comes not to market
sheep bringeth no gain with usura
Usura is a murrain, usura
blunteth the needle in the the maid's hand
and stoppeth the spinner's cunning. Pietro Lombardo
came not by usura
Duccio came not by usura
nor Pier della Francesca; Zuan Bellin' not by usura
nor was "La Callunia" painted.
Came not by usura Angelico; came not Ambrogio Praedis,
No church of cut stone signed: Adamo me fecit.
Not by usura St. Trophime

Not by usura St. Hilaire,

Usura rusteth the chisel
It rusteth the craft and the craftsman
It gnaweth the thread in the loom
None learneth to weave gold in her pattern;
Azure hath a canker by usura; cramoisi is unbroidered
Emerald findeth no Memling

Usura slayeth the child in the womb
It stayeth the young man's courting
It hath brought palsey to bed, lyeth
between the young bride and her bridegroom

CONTRA NATURAM

They have brought whores for Eleusis
Corpses are set to banquet

at behest of usura.

(Ezra Pound)

As Pound eloquently expresses, usury is the tool of tyrants.

Now are you with me?

[The Magistrate]

8. Quoting A Raving Anti-Semite Against Usury is A Very Poor Move, Sir

"Romney loves America like a tick loves a dog."

[WillyT]

6. So What You Are Saying... From Your Perspective As A Financier... Is That Rigging/Cheating Is...

acceptable in the financial world.

At least you're... "honest" ???

Explains a lot.

[DirkGently]

4. KNR. This issue is emblematic of how big banks screw the world.