RSS Feed
Twitter
Facebook
Email
HomeLibor Scandal et al: The True and Total Cost
Posted by Larry Doyle on December 12th, 2012 8:29 AM |
Would it be even possible to measure the total cost of the manipulation of Libor? A basis point here, a few basis points there and nobody really gets hurt, right? No, not right.
The simple fact is the manipulation of the most widely tracked short term interest rate in the world comes with the same very real costs attached to all forms of corruption, including the money laundering scandals at HSBC, Standard Chartered and who knows how many other institutions.
What are these costs? (more…)
Libor Scandal: This is Racketeering, Folks!!
Posted by Larry Doyle on December 10th, 2012 9:00 AM |
If it looks like a racket, and smells like a racket, and feels like a racket, it is probably a racket.
Those involved in the Libor scandal either directly or on the periphery certainly have little interest in this scandal being defined as a racket and thus subject to the RICO Act. Yet if we are going to have a degree of integrity in defining just what the hell goes on in our financial markets, then we had better hold the bar at the appropriate level if we ever care to root out the cronyism that is eroding our public interest.
The key point there being whether those charged with regulating our markets are truly willing and able to do just that. What is racketeering? (more…)
Libor Scandal Update: The Real Cost
Posted by Larry Doyle on October 26th, 2012 10:27 AM |
How quickly the scandals seem to come and go.
With barely enough time to fully digest and appropriately process each and every financial racket, Wall Street, Washington, and our financial media move right along as if very little had happened in the first place. Do you disagree? The American taxpayer, consumers, and investors everywhere are getting taken to the cleaners. You don’t think so?
What have we seen in terms of meaningful justice and proper remuneration in the institutional scandals encompassing the following: (more…)
Libor Scandal: RBS Managers Condoned/Participated
Posted by Larry Doyle on September 25th, 2012 7:11 AM |
Crisis management 101 would maintain that during periods of turmoil a problem should be ring-fenced and a proper firewall developed so that the fallout does not spread. I believe that senior Wall Street management is utilizing that exact game plan in the midst of the Libor-manipulation scandal.
Wall Street would welcome paying token fines and sacrificing a handful of ‘rogue traders’ for the rigging of Libor. Those penalties would be exceptionally cheap prices to pay for the largest financial scandal in Wall Street history. If token fines being levied and a small cadre of traders being fired and perhaps prosecuted are how justice is defined in this scandal then American justice and America itself will have sunk to a new low. (more…)
Libor Scandal: Will Wall Street Run Out The Clock?
Posted by Larry Doyle on September 20th, 2012 9:08 AM |
Dean Smith was a master practitioner as basketball coach at the University of North Carolina.
While many fans of the game may not have appreciated the style of ball played by Coach Smith, he was focused on one thing. Winning. What was Coach Smith’s signature style offensive strategy toward the end of games? The four corners.
College basketball during a large part of Coach Smith’s tenure operated without a shot clock so the team in possession of the ball often would spread the floor and run the clock down during the final stages of the game. The North Carolina Tar Heels under Coach Smith ran this “keepaway” style to perfection.
We see a very similar version of this offensive “running the clock out” currently on Wall Street. How so? Let’s navigate and address current developments in what I view as the largest financial scandal in history, that is the Libor scandal. (more…)
LIBOR Scandal: NY AG Takes Center Stage
Posted by Larry Doyle on August 16th, 2012 9:37 AM |
One might only guess that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and his colleague NY Department of Financial Services’ superintendent Benjamin Lawsky are not on the distribution list for the Wall Street-Washington Incestuous Regulatory Relationship mailings. That is a good thing.
Hopefully other state regulators and attorneys general might take a cue from these two.
On the heels of Lawsky playing hardball with the Standard Chartered – Iranian Laundromat, we now see Schneiderman doing the same with seven Wall Street heavyweights implicated in the largest financial scandal in history, that is, the manipulation of Libor. Which heavyweights? (more…)
Libor Scandal: UBS Plays the “Most Dangerous Game”
Posted by Larry Doyle on August 9th, 2012 9:00 AM |
“You want loyalty? Get a dog.”
Wall Street management was notorious for playing the loyalty card with employees when they were preparing to screw them during bonus season. I am going to guess that those loyalty conversations do not carry much weight anymore. Certainly not at UBS.
In what I would define as the financial equivalent of the classic story, “The Most Dangerous Game“, the intrigue currently within the offices at Union Bank of Switzerland redefines the Wall Street employer-employee relationship. Let’s navigate into this unknown and uncharted territory. (more…)
Barclays Libor Scandal: Naming Names
Posted by Larry Doyle on July 24th, 2012 8:38 AM |
When battling wildfires, firefighters will very often scorch the earth and sacrifice acreage and property as a defensive mechanism against the wildfire taking over and destroying even more valued territory.
As I review recent developments in the scandalous Libor “wildfire,” a mental image of that defensive strategy runs through my head. Why is that?
With news of pending arrests in this case, we awake this morning to see a number of individual names released by The Wall Street Journal as seemingly ring leaders and participants in this scandal. (more…)
Barclays Libor Scandal: Wake Up, America!!
Posted by Larry Doyle on July 20th, 2012 10:24 AM |
We are losing our nation and our future literally right before our eyes. WAKE UP, America!!
Who is involved in the greatest theft ever undertaken on American soil? All those involved in the scheme and scandal collectively defined as financial regulatory capture. Who are the parties to this scandal?
1. Politicians more concerned with re-election and collecting the needed campaign funding than actually pursuing the truth and principles needed to protect investors and the public at large. (more…)
Libor Scandal: Trader Highlights Manipulation in 1991
Posted by Larry Doyle on July 27th, 2012 10:03 AM |
I have posed that question often over the course of the last month. E-mails emanating from Barclays point to manipulation of Libor back in 2005.
The industry and regulators would clearly like to keep the focus of this scandal to the crisis period of 2008. Why is that? The excuse of, “We were trying to save the system” would seem to provide a very wide cover for all parties involved. But, again I ask, when did it really begin? (more…)
Tags: Bob Diamond career at Morgan Stanley, bob Diamond Libor manipulation, Douglas Keenan commentary in Financial Times, Douglas Keenan Morgan Stanley trader, Douglas Keenan writess of Libor manipulation in 1991, financial regulatory capture, is Wall Street a racket, Larry Doyle Libor scandal, LIBOR rigging, Libor scandal, My Thwarted Attempt to Tell of Libor Shenanigans, regulatory capture, rigging of LIBOR, when did Libor manipulation start, when did Libor price fixing begin, when did Libor rigging start, who is Douglas Keenan
Posted in General, Libor | 1 Comment »