Osborne to announce inquiry as SFO mulls LIBOR prosecutions

Chancellor George Osborne is to announce an inquiry into UK banking standards, with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) also considering launching criminal prosecutions over the LIBOR rate-fixing scandal.

Osborne will announce the inquiry to the House of Commons later this afternoon, but will stop short of meeting the Labour party's demands for a judge-led probe, according to the Financial Times. The Serious Fraud Office, meanwhile, has said it hopes to decide "within a month" whether it is appropriate and possible to bring criminal prosecutions in relation to LIBOR fixing. "The issues are complex and the assessment of the evidence the FSA has gathered will take a short time, but we hope to come to a conclusion within a month," the SFO said in a statement. "The SFO is aware of inves...