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“You need to take a close look at the reset ladder. We need 3M to stay
low for the next 3 sets and then I think that we will be completely out of
our 3M position. Then its on. [Submitter] has to go crazy with raising 3M
Libor.” (February 1, 2006, Trader in New York to Trader in London);
“Your annoying colleague again … Would love to get a high 1m Also
if poss a low 3m … if poss … thanks” (February 3, 2006, Trader in
London to Submitter);
“This is the [book's] risk. We need low 1M and 3M libor. PIs ask
[submitter] to get 1M set to 82. That would help a lot” (March 27, 2006,
Trader in New York to Trader in London);…
“Hi Guys, We got a big position in 3m libor for the next 3 days. Can
we please keep the lib or fixing at 5.39 for the next few days. It would
really help. We do not want it to fix any higher than that. Tks a
lot.” (September 13, 2006, Senior Trader in New York to Submitter)…”
U.S. prosecutors have admitted that the goal of this rigging was to
engage in insider trading for the proprietary desks of some of the largest
banks in the world. But interestingly, you do not see any headlines using
the words “insider trading” or “proprietary trading.”
The CFTC’s order against the only firm to be charged thus far,
Barclays, reads in part:
“During the period from at least mid-2005 through the fall of 2007,
and sporadically thereafter into 2009, Barclays based its LIBOR
submissions for U.S. Dollar (and at limited times other currencies) on the
requests of Barclays’ swaps traders, including former Barclays swaps
traders, who were attempting to affect the official published LIBOR, in
order to benefit Barclays’ derivatives trading positions; those positions
included swaps and futures trading positions…These Barclays Euro swaps
traders agreed to ask, and did ask, the Barclays submitters for rates that
benefited the trading positions of the traders at the other banks…”
This was not just Libor rigging, this was an international banking
cartel of insider traders. It makes the Republicans on the Senate Banking
and House Financial Services committees, who are trying to restrict the
so-called Volcker Rule against proprietary trading look like uninformed
sycophants for Wall Street. Read More