Banks?

[urlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18622264[/url

and

[urlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/27/barclays-bank-big-obey-rules[/url

This is absolutely stunning IMO.

The key point form that is this:

"Strip away the acronyms and the charges against Barclays are straightforward. Its traders and senior management are accused of tampering with two key interest rates to bolster their own profits. And they apparently did this not once, but repeatedly over four years."

Why aren't people being arrested as I type this? A paltry fine from the FSA isn't right. It amounts to 10 days profit of Barclays bank. What is more fining the institution itself only hurts the shareholders not the perpetrators of the crime

If I defrauded anyone out of as few thousand quid I would be in the dock.

People need to do jail time for this but I doubt they will.

How can you possibly compare this to areal crime – such as looting a bottle of water during last summer's riots – and suggest that those who got a little muddled at a bank should be punished in anything like the same way as a real criminal?

And the fine is a disgrace too: Barclays should be excused it – just as Goldman Sachs were excused a fine for something or other.

Quite. And Bob Diamond is totally blameless as well. Why on earth should he have known how his bank set its LIBOR rate (which is a fundamental indicator of a banks financial health amongst other things)? Why on earth would he take an interest in that?

Was pondering starting a thread myself, but in the spirit of this thread I'm so annoyed that they can't be left to their own devices without being bothered by pesky things like morals and "the law". I'll happily donate my house and all its contents to Barclays to help them pay off the fine. Sterling chaps, every one.

Interestingly and more peversely, the fine is levied by the FSA and paid by Barclays. The fines the FSA collect are then taken into account when setting the levies on the banks to pay for the functions of the FSA.

So this fine will be directly reflected by lower bank levies to police the banks. Effectively giving Barclays a discount on its fine.

You definitely couldn't make that one up

Lol and if it turns out that they were all in on it and end up with similar fines they might end up as a direct offset to the levies.
I'm also sure I heard from the FSA spokeswoman last night that they'd entered a no prosecution agreement with Barclays.

Although to be fair Osborne is trying to get it paid to government to benefit taxpayers.

Apparently, no criminal act has been committed in terms of the FSMA. Personally, I find it hard to believe that there has not been a criminal act committed under other legislation (and if not, the law is an ass). Now, if a criminal act has been committed and the perpetrators benefitted financially (which from the allegations seems likely) then surely they could have their assets seized and be jailed under the Proceeds of Crime Act? It's about time this country got tough on this sort of thing.

From BBC

"London Inter Bank Offered Rate. The rate at which banks in London lend money to each other for the short-term in a particular currency. A new Libor rate is calculated every morning by financial data firm Thomson Reuters based on interest rates provided by members of the British Bankers Association."

So a private company (with no interest in making money

) is calculating interest rates by which other private companies ([uwith[/u an interest in making money) are then, er, making money. But the second company is providing duff info to the first for the calculations so that they benefit more. Sounds extremely dodgy to me.

Well, what can you expect of a system at the heart of the casino economy?

It used to work.

By this I mean it used to be done in a conscientious and serious manner no doubt by people who would have seen their positions as some kind of guardians of financial propriety of the bank.

The fact it clearly failed in the way it did speaks volumes for the change in culture that has occurred in banks since deregulation in the 80's.

From the link you provided:



I'm no expert but I'd guess it is usual to investigate the crime first. Then arrest people.