Today’s headlines are:
- Leaked recording implicates BoE in libor scandal
- Barclays boss’s attempts to identify whistleblower cost him his bonus
- TfL close one tube station a day due to understaffing
1 – Secret tape implicates BoE in Libor scandal
The secret recording from 2008 was uncovered by BBC Panorama, and evidences the central bank’s involvement in pressuring commercial banks during the financial crisis to push their Libor rates down.
Libor is the rate at which banks lend to each other, setting a benchmark for mortgages and loans for ordinary customers. The Bank of England had said Libor was not regulated in the UK at the time.
The recording undermines evidence given in 2012 to the Treasury Select Committee by former Barclays boss Bob Diamond and Paul Tucker, the man who went on to become the deputy governor of the Bank of England.
Banks setting artificially low Libor rates is called lowballing.
In the recording, a senior Barclays manager, Mark Dearlove, instructs Libor submitter Peter Johnson, to lower his Libor rates. Mr Johnson objects, saying that this would mean breaking the rules for setting Libor, which required him to put in rates based only on the cost of borrowing cash. His boss, Mr Dearlove, replies: “The fact […] is we’ve got the Bank of England […] involved in the whole thing… I am as reluctant as you are.”
Read the full article here: Bank of England recording leaked, libor scandal ensues
2 – Barclays boss loses annual bonus in whistleblowing scandal
Jes Staley will lose his annual bonus after two regulators opened an investigation into his conduct in a whistleblowing case where he had tried to discover who wrote a whistleblowing letter to the bank.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) will investigate his conduct, whilst Barclays will dock his pay by as much as £1.3m, or all of his annual bonus. He will also be issued with a formal written warning.
In June 2016, members of the Barclays board received an anonymous letter and a senior executive received another anonymous letter, raising concerns about a senior employee who had been recruited by Barclays earlier that year. It also raised questions over the appropriateness of the recruitment process followed on this occasion by Barclays.
Mr Staley asked Barclays’ internal investigation team to attempt to identify the authors of the letters, which the chief executive thought were an unfair personal attack on the senior employee. His attempt to uncover the author came to light early this year.
Read the full article here: Barclays whistleblowing scandal threatens boss’s bonus
3 – TfL staff shortages close one tube station a day
Commuters cite multiple grips with travelling by Tube. These include being unable to bag a seat at rush hour, overheating in sweaty summer conditions and delays. Now there’s a new issue to add to the pile: closures.
Thanks to a Freedom of Information request from the BBC, it’s been revealed that on average one tube station was forced to close every day over one year. The reason being staff shortages.
The FoI found that the number of station workers plummeted by 777 people (that’s around 13 percent) between January and December 2016. The impact meant overall there were 360 closures across the entire network in 2016, with 149 in December alone, usually due to staff being moved ‘to allow another priority station to open or remain open’.
Temple station was the biggest closure culprit, being shut 25 times over the year for a total of 57 hours. Canary Wharf and Holland Park also had to close 17 times each because lack of staff could have compromised customer’s safety. Most of the closures (66 percent) took place between midnight and 6am. Queensway holds the record for the longest closure in 2016 after it was shut for 11 hours on Christmas Eve.
Here’s a list of the five most closed stations in 2016:
1. Temple – closed 25 times
2. Canary Wharf – closed 17 times
3. Holland Park – closed 17 times
4. Covent Garden – closed 13 times
5. Goodge Street – closed 13 times
SanFlash 