BBA was 'warned about LIBOR manipulation'

The British Bankers Association (BBA) has come under fire from a former member of the LIBOR compilation team at Thomson Reuters, who claims the organisation was told on a weekly basis in 2008 that the rates were being distorted.

The ex-employee of Thomson Reuters, who asked to remain anonymous, told the BBC that the BBA was told regularly about the implausible rate submissions of several banks involved in the process. The BBA confirmed it had received reports from Thomson Reuters about rates that fell "outside normal tolerances", but it said the warnings did not imply wrongdoing. Barclays was recently fined £290m by the Financial Services Authority and the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for manipulation of the LIBOR rate between 2005 and 2009. Other banks are now being investigated. The f...