Former RBS Trader Claims ‘Anyone’ at Bank Could Change LIBOR Rate!

• Former RBS trader claims ‘anyone’ at bank could change rate! 
  by Julia Kollewe, guardian.co.uk 
  Court documents claim another trader changed Libor submission even though he was part of Japanese yen swap desk in London
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  A former trader for Royal Bank of Scotland Group has claimed that the bank’s internal checks were so lax that anyone could change Libor rates. More than a dozen banks, including RBS, are under investigation by regulators in the US, Europe and Asia for suspected rigging of the London interbank offered rate (Libor), which is used to price trillions of dollars of financial products.
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  Barclays was fined £290m in June by American and British authorities for its role in trying to manipulate the interest rates, which affect the cost of borrowing for millions of customers around the world.
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  Court documents filed in Singapore show that Tan Chi Min, who is suing RBS for wrongful dismissal, claimed that in 2008 a trader for the bank, Will Hall, changed the Libor submission himself even though he was part of the Japanese yen swap desk in London.
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  The papers show that Tan, who worked for RBS in Singapore, raised the issue at his disciplinary meeting last September, saying that the bank’s internal procedure in London seemed to be that “anyone can change Libor”.
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  Tan alleges that the bank’s minutes of his disciplinary meeting omitted details of this and other conversations about how traders at the bank tried to influence RBS’s interbank lending rate submissions.
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  He was sacked from his Singapore-based role as head of delta trading for RBS’s global banking and markets division in November for trying to improperly influence the bank’s rate setters. Delta trading involves using derivatives to mirror the price moves in a basket of securities.
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  Tan filed a lawsuit against the bank late last year, claiming the practice of traders making requests to the bank’s rate setters was well known by RBS management. RBS is disputing the allegations, saying Tan was dismissed for gross misconduct and that it followed its company disciplinary policy in deciding to terminate his contract. It has already announced that it has sacked several employees for misconduct as a result of its investigations.
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  Tan is claiming a loss of bonuses from the bank totalling $1.1m (£693,000) and 3.3m RBS shares. The bank reiterated that it “continues to co-operate fully with ongoing investigations relating to the setting of Libor and other interest rates”.
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