Libor manipulation lawsuits hit banks

At least 12 lawsuits alleging manipulation of Libor have been filed since April, and six different authorities – including the US Department of Justice – are investigating. But how would manipulation work in practice, and is there any evidence of it so far?

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UBS: one of a number of banks targeted by Libor probe

The banker is angry. He raises his voice, waves his hands in the air and – at one point – slaps the desk in front of him. “I know for a fact it wasn’t real – Libor wasn’t real in 2007 and 2008. I know for a fact that some banks were putting in artificially low rates. I still find it hard to believe someone would deliberately do that, but if they did, that person shouldn’t work in banking,” he says.

For something that sounds so mundane, Libor – a daily average of the borrowing rates for a panel of

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