Interview on BBC Radio: $1.5B UBS LIBOR Manipulation Penaty

I’ve linked here to Bankers Anonymous’ Worldwide Radio Debut today with the BBC’s “World Have Your Say,” in the wake of UBS’ reported $1.5Billion penalty for fixing LIBOR rates between 2005 and 2010.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p011x4l8

The Bankers Anonymous portion of the show starts at minute 40:20, and goes until the end.

I talk about the role of LIBOR for banks, how much profit they extracted by manipulation, and why certain people would have wanted to manipulate rates.

I also attempt to answer a question from a very persistent Canadian who wanted to make a point about the vast global conspiracy of banking, while at the same time denying he was describing a vast global conspiracy.  As always, I blame Canada.

I recommend this posting for a fuller description of LIBOR manipulation, based on last summer’s Barclay’s $453 million fine.

Also, in the BBC interview I mention why I think Barclays’ Bob Diamond acted relatively honorably, so I’m linking to that as well.

Finally, the FSA report on the UBS penalty includes devastating email traffic from these traders, who should really know better than to write any of that stuff down.

The more emails like that you write, the more your bank pays.  We learned that stuff in the first month of Bond Sales and Trading training.

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