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Barclays, LIBOR and Banking Culture
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Barclays, LIBOR and Banking Culture

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The more the world learns about international banking, the more it looks like a "cheating culture." We hear about the growing LIBOR scandal and what it could mean for $350 trillion in contracts from multi-national business and municipal government down to mortgages and student loans. Also, the showdown deepens between Egypt's president, the military council and the courts, and another battle over how far the Bush tax cuts should be extended.

Banner image: Bob Diamond, then-CEO of Barclay's UK, speaks at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 27, 2012. Photo by by Moritz Hager, courtesy of the World Economic Forum/flickr

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The London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, is what banks charge each other to borrow money, and it's not just for financial wonks and accountants. It's also used as a benchmark to set rates for $350 trillion in contracts: commercial loans, home loans, car loans and credit cards, including yours. Now it turns out that major banks may have manipulated the LIBOR for their own profit. Are they being run by a "cheating culture?" Would regulation of the latest global financial scandal help or should bankers be required to risk their own money, not everybody else's?

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