# Whats going on with the LIBOR scandal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-with-the-libor-scandal/650144 "2013-02-13T02:44:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-with-the-libor-scandal/650144/1 "2013-02-13T02:44:28Z")
I mean, not too long ago, we were hearing about the absolutely monstrous scale of this scandal and the breadth of bank fraud through the LIBOR system. I’m not politicizing or questioning this issue on the whole, I’m just wondering what’s going on with it now? ---
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-with-the-libor-scandal/650144/2 "2013-02-13T03:22:00Z")
Guess the banks killed everyone that was talking about it… 😕 ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-with-the-libor-scandal/650144/3 "2013-02-13T08:51:28Z")
[Wikipedia has a decent but somewhat fragmented entry on it.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libor_scandal) I’m pretty sure all of the criminal fines have been levied against the banks involved by now. The losses caused by the manipulations though will probably be the subject of civil suits for quite some time, although proving damages may be tricky especially when it comes to the actual amount. ---
**Author:** ![martu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@martu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/martu)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-with-the-libor-scandal/650144/4 "2013-02-13T09:29:29Z")
Lots of fines for those involved, most recently RBS which is interesting as it is mostly owned by the UK government. The fine will not be payed by taxpayers apparently, we shall see. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-with-the-libor-scandal/650144/5 "2013-02-13T09:36:22Z")
> [@martu](#): > > Lots of fines for those involved, most recently RBS which is interesting as it is mostly owned by the UK government. The fine will not be payed by taxpayers apparently, we shall see. It’s funny that you mention RBS because when I was searching this the very first hit was this headline “[Libor scandal: RBS boss Stephen Hester ‘should get his bonus’](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21416768)” I had to turn away before I started to cry. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-with-the-libor-scandal/650144/6 "2013-02-13T12:05:32Z")
> [@deltasigma](#): > > [Wikipedia has a decent but somewhat fragmented entry on it.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libor_scandal) > > I’m pretty sure all of the criminal fines have been levied against the banks involved by now. The losses caused by the manipulations though will probably be the subject of civil suits for quite some time, although proving damages may be tricky especially when it comes to the actual amount. Only three banks have been fined so far: Barclays about USD 450M, USB, USD 1.5B, and RBS USD 625M. There will be others as the authorities work their way through. There are also likely to be some actual criminal prosecutions of individuals at some point. With RBS, as noted 80% owned by the UK government these days, there are attempts to take the money from the accumulated staff bonuses. Harsh on the vast majority of staff who had nothing to do with the manipulation but better than me paying as a taxpayer! ---
**Author:** ![sidecar\_jon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@sidecar\_jon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidecar_jon)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-with-the-libor-scandal/650144/7 "2013-02-13T15:26:39Z")
Since RBS seems to have made 2 billion quid in profits…no reason for the tax payers to pay anything…just the customers! ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-with-the-libor-scandal/650144/8 "2013-02-13T15:28:43Z")
The Government has in the past few weeks laid a spat of regulations before Parliament dealing with this. They should be law within a few months or so. ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-with-the-libor-scandal/650144/9 "2013-02-13T15:32:24Z")
I’ve found that the Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has reported on a few of them already: [26th Report:](http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201213/ldselect/ldsecleg/112/112.pdf) > [@](#): > > \*\*Draft Bank of England Act 1998 (Macro-prudential Measures) Order 2013 > > Draft Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Services Compensation Scheme) Order 2013 > > Draft Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (PRA-regulated Activities) Order 2013\*\* > > The draft Orders serve to specify important details of the new framework for financial regulation under the Financial Services Act 2012, including aspects of the relationship between the Financial Policy Committee, the Prudential Regulation Authority, and the Financial Conduct Authority, all of which are established under that Act. > > We draw these instruments to the special attention of the House on the ground that they give rise to issues of public policy likely to be of interest to the House. ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-with-the-libor-scandal/650144/10 "2013-02-14T09:44:31Z")
Oho! And just this morning, they wrote a bit more: [27th Report:](http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201213/ldselect/ldsecleg/116/116.pdf) > [@](#): > > \*\*Draft Financial Services Act 2012 (Misleading Statements and Impressions) Order 2013 > > Draft Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) Order 2013\*\* > > The draft Orders implement some of the recommendations made by the review into the setting and usage of LIBOR, carried out by Mr Martin Wheatley and published in September 2012. The first Order brings the activity of banks in providing information in relation to LIBOR within the scope of statutory regulation by the new Financial Conduct Authority; the second Order creates a criminal offence for the making of false or misleading statements and impressions relating to “relevant benchmarks”, and specifies LIBOR as such a benchmark. > > We draw these instruments to the special attention of the House on the ground that they give rise to issues of public policy likely to be of interest to the House. And in the same Report further down there is an additional lump of instruments: > [@](#): > > **Draft Financial Services Act 2012 (Consequential Amendments) Order 2013 and 5 associated instruments** > > In our 26th Report, we drew to the House’s attention three statutory instruments specifying important details of the new framework for financial regulation under the Financial Services Act 2012 (“the 2012 Act”). These included aspects of the relationship between the newly established Financial Policy Committee (FPC), Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA: the successor to the Financial Services Authority (FSA)). HM Treasury (HMT) has laid six further instruments serving to implement the new framework.