Barclays Bank Fine £290m

James Patterson

Hi All,

I caught a snippet of the news last night and something did interest me about Barclays bank being fined for manipulating rates for mortgages etc.

If someone could explain exactly what they did, i'd appreciate it.

Also discuss your thoughts around this because i thought banks were honest?

Monsoon

James Patterson wrote: »

Also discuss your thoughts around this because i thought banks were honest?

blobbyh

James Patterson wrote: »

If someone could explain exactly what they did, i'd appreciate it.

Manipulate the credit risk of their risky employers so they could borrow money from other banks at a lower interest rate than it technically should have been. Probably not so they could give cheaper finance to the rest of us but so the dodgy ba5tards could pay bonuses to themselves for doing such great jobs.

From the BBC website:

Barclays was fined after the Financial Services Authority (FSA) found its traders had lied about the interest rates other banks were charging it for loans. Investigations are also under way at RBS, HSBC, Citigroup and UBS.

Giving a lower reading than the true rate would give the impression that Barclays was considered a better lending risk than it actually was.

Reporting a higher reading than the real rate could have inflated trading profits artificially, misleading investors and regulators.

The FSA found evidence that Barclays, sometimes working with staff at other banks, had tried to manipulate Libor (the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate) and its European equivalent Euribor between 2005 and 2009.

JodieR

so who gets the £290m?

blobbyh

According to Newsnight (on now) it goes back into the banking system! They're now talking about it going to the public purse, not the banks...

James Patterson

Well that sounds promising, thanks for the description. P.s. Good use of numbers in your words

PGM

JodieR wrote: »

so who gets the £290m?

It'll go to pay off the K2 tax savings

Its currently a high risk investment to buy bank shares, you know somethings wrong just knowing that..

MarkT

I remember years ago my grandfather telling my father if he ever become a policeman he'd disown him, then my father telling me if I ever went into law, he'd do the same to me......

Guess what I'm going to say to my 11 year old?????

anniem

And, please can you tell me, this is a Fine, so it is disallowable for tax purposes, yes? So they will be taxed on it as profit????????? Yes?