I too fell for the Diamond myth. Barclays Corrupts Libor and Maybe a Lot More. If Barclays Plc would lie about its borrowing costs, what else would it lie about? That question gets to the heart of the damage Barclays did to itself by submitting false numbers for years to the British Bankers’ Association as part of the surveys used to set the London interbank offered rate, the benchmark for $360 trillion of financial instruments globally. The most important asset any bank has is trust -- especially when it comes to the figures on its own financial statements. Whatever credibility Barclays had, it’s been poured down the drain like last night’s suds. Diamond, who resigned July 3, replied: “Of course.” Trust Deficit The trust deficit is evident in Barclays’s market value. Barclays showed 7.8 billion pounds of intangibles as of Dec. 31 -- things like goodwill and customer lists -- as well as 3 billion pounds of deferred tax assets. Barclays shares fell 16 percent after news broke last week that the company had been fined $453 million by U.S. and U.K. authorities.
Bob Diamond Performs “Je Ne Regrette Rien” As much as I would have liked to have seen the Bob Diamond testimony before Parliament yesterday (a previously booked flight ruled that out), I should probably consider myself lucky. Comments by readers and tooth-gnashing reports from the British press indicate that Diamond is an apt student of the well honed CEO practice of shirking responsibility and shameless denials. Those strategies go a long way in stymieing efforts to get insight, at least in the setting of a legislative grilling. Some of it is the time constraints on each interviewer: they can only go so long before they have to turn the mike over to a colleague. I’d love to see a real prosecutor, with the luxury of time and the ability to do serious discovery before deposing executives, go after some of these fearless leaders. The most theatrical moment of the day appears to have been when MP John Mann went full bore into Diamond. 4.25pm: Labour MP John Mann decides to pile in.
Yves here. Yves here. FSA findings on Barclays Libor manipulation | Business. Orders Barclays to pay $200 Million Penalty for Attempted Manipulation of and False Reporting concerning LIBOR and Euribor Benchmark Interest Rates. LIBOR / EURIBOR manipulation. Barclays Found To Engage In Massive Libor Manipulation, Gets Wrist-slapped By Coopted Regulators. We can finally close the case on the massive Libor manipulation issue that we first brough to the world's attention back in January 2009 when we penned: "This Makes No Sense: Libor By Bank. " As of minutes ago, Barclays is the first bank to admit it has engaged in gross manipulation of the key benchmark rate that sets the cost of capital for $350 trillion in interest-rate sensitive products. As the CFTC notes, as it produly announces an epic wristslap of $200 million for Barclays Bank: "The Order finds that Barclays attempted to manipulate and made false reports concerning two global benchmark interest rates, LIBOR and Euribor, on numerous occasions and sometimes on a daily basis over a four-year period, commencing as early as 2005.
" Surely this massive fine will teach them to never do it again, until tomorrow at least, when the British Banker Association once again finds 3 month USD liEbor to be... unchanged. From the CFTC: Washington, DC – The U.S. LIBOR and Euribor. RPT-Barclays says told did not always need to file high Libor. How did the FSA calculate Barclays' fine?