Barclays Kinda-Sorta Claims Bank Of England Told It To Manipulate Libor
In the fast-exploding Barclays rate-fixing scandal, Bob Diamond may have just produced a smoking gun -- one that could have the power to take a Bank of England official down with him.
Diamond stepped down as CEO of the giant British bank Barclays on Tuesday, just a couple of days after the bank's Chairman, Marcus Agius, also submitted his resignation. Chief operating officer Jerry del Missier, in the job for just a month, also took a dive on Tuesday. All were the casualties of the bank's recent admission that it repeatedly manipulated a key short-term interest rate called Libor -- sometimes in an effort to make itself look healthier, other times in an effort to make money on credit derivatives.
The bank doesn't have much of a defense, but it claims that it was kinda-sorta told by the Bank of England not to let Libor get too high during the financial crisis, in an attempt to ease fears Barclays would be next to go belly-up. And today it released a document on its web site that purports to back that claim up.
That doesn't excuse the bank's serial manipulation to simply make money on derivatives -- as seen in a series of incriminating emails stretching over years before the bank's conversation with the Bank of England. But it could possibly help explain some of why Barclays did what it did, while also pushing some of the blame away from the bank.
Well, darn... Looks like those job-creators got busted manipulating rates to to make money on credit derivatives... (Sounds hauntingly familiar, doesn't it?)
Well, this wouldn't be such a big deal, except it's having a direct effect on one of those Romney "fundraisers"...
Robert Diamond, Disgraced Barclays Banker, Pulls Out Of Romney Fundraiser
WASHINGTON -- A disgraced London banker has rescinded an offer to co-host a high-dollar fundraiser for Mitt Romney, sparing the GOP hopeful the difficulty of appearing at a lavish event with a man embroiled in scandal.
Romney's plan to hold a fundraiser in London this summer with Barclays CEO Robert Diamond was reported June 28 by the London Telegraph. The cost of the dinner seemed to shock the British paper, which noted that "the price of invitations dwarfs the amounts paid for such fund-raisers in British politics."
On Tuesday, Diamond resigned from Barclays after his bank was fined more than $450 million by British and U.S. authorities for attempting to manipulate the Libor rate (London interbank offered rate), a key global metric used to set everything from credit card to mortgage interest rates.
Before resigning, Diamond had already offered to sacrifice his bonus, but it wasn't enough to salvage his job, as pressure mounted for him to fall on his sword. The bank's stock was up on the news.
“Mr Diamond decided to step aside as a co-host for the upcoming London reception to focus all his attention on Barclays. We respect his decision,” Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul told the Financial Times.
Guests must pay between $25,000 and $75,000 for a seat at the meal with Romney, according to the Telegraph.
Even before Diamond was set to co-host the lavish event, Barclays was a big source of money for the Romney campaign. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, employees of the international bank have contributed $234,650 to Romney, making them the ninth biggest donor to the presumptive Republican nominee.
So nice to see that "foreign money" is having such an impact on our election process... You, GO, Mitty...
Can't you hardly wait to see how many heads will roll in this scandal...And what the investigation by Parliament might turn up about the cozy relationship between Barclays... I'm sure the undecided and independent voters will just slough this off too... Hey, a few billion here, a few billion there...and most of it is British money going to the Romney campaign... What's to worry about....
Disclaimer: "No rich people were hurt in the making of this article....And no 285Bound right-wingers were insulted."
