Lloyds, the bank where 'every little helped' during the Libor fixing scandal...
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Your support makes all the difference.For outsiders, the fact that Lloyds, better known for its retail banking operation, was so deeply involved in the Libor fixing scandal came as something of a shock, particularly when it emerged that they were the first to have been discovered ripping off the Bank of England.
But as the regulator issued details of transcripts showing the cavalier way its traders ran roughshod over banking ethics, it became clear that they were every bit as culpable as their investment banking peers.
Apparently referring to one of his manipulations of the benchmark, one Lloyds trader told his manager: “every little helps... it's like Tescos."
“Absolutely, every little helps,” responded his boss.
Another Lloyds trader tells a broker: “I’ve got no fixing today. So I can do my Libors wherever I fuck*ng want to put them, mate.”
The FCA said Bank of Scotland and Lloyds traders worked together to influence the rate, in the full knowledge that if two banks on the panel of 12 cooperated they had a good chance of changing the benchmark.
As one BoS manager said to a Lloyds trader: “While we have two votes we should use this to suit our advantage, you know what I mean?”
Lloyds received a £20bn bailout from the British public purse, but despite that lifeline, the bank’s actions rigging Libor meant it reduced how much it repaid the taxpayer-backed Bank of England by millions of pounds for using one of its aid programmes.
As part of its fines, Lloyds ended up repaying £7.8m of that to the Bank.
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