Libor was manipulated even during probe: study

London

BANKS lowballed Libor submissions long after probes began into allegations they were doing so, research suggests, raising questions of whether lenders can be relied on to provide sound data for interest-rate benchmarks.

In the worst days of the euro-zone crisis in 2012, the 12-month dollar London interbank offered rate - a measure of how much banks would pay to borrow US cash for a year - was about half what it should have been, showing they were significantly understating how much loans would cost, according to a study by Fideres Partners, a research firm that gave evidence to the UK government on benchmark-rigging in July.