The Largest Banking Scandal in History: The Libor Scandal Explained

 The Largest Banking Scandal in History: The Libor Scandal Explained

Late last month, Barclay’s Bank, a multinational bank and financial institution based in the United Kingdom, admitted to regulators that it tried to manipulate something called “Libor” before and during the financial crisis in 2008. “Libor” is an acronym for London Interbank Offered Rate. It is a rate used as a benchmark for the cost of lending throughout the financial system, and it is also used as a reference rate for a wide range of financial products like car loans, adjustable-rate mortgages, student loans and credit cards.

The Libor is not based on an objective measure of the interest for bank-to-bank loans. It is the average of a daily poll of the Association’s member banks, who give an estimate of the interest rate they think they would pay if they sought to borrow from another bank.

It is supposed to be the way the financial system assesses the overall health of the financial system, because if the banks being polled feel confident about the state of things, they report a low number, because they assume that if they had to borrow from another bank, their cost of borrowing would be low. If member banks feel a low degree of confidence in the financial system, they report a higher interest rate. And from that the Libor is calculated, affecting the interest rate on financial products around the globe. – Source

 

 See Info graphic up close HERE

 

So, the question is: What is President Obama going to do about this? Or is this not on his agenda?

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