Between mid-2005 and mid-2008, unscrupulous traders are alleged to have asked their banking colleagues to submit a higher or lower cash rate, just to enhance their positions. Faced with this, Brussels is looking into both the possible existence of a fraud and a violation of the rules of competition.
The French daily recalls that “a dozen banks were investigated [from October 2011], including the Société Génrale, Crédit Agricole, HSBC and Deutsche Bank.” The daily describes the news in the American business journal as –
a bombshell for the European Banking Federation, which manages Euribor and that thought that a panel of 43 banks would better protect the European benchmark than its British cousin, with a lighter hand,” [Libor has 18 banks].