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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    The LIBOR and Why It Matters

    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.

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    By Warren Olney • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

    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?

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Barclays, LIBOR and Banking Culture
    1. 0:00Showdown Deepens Between Egypt's President, Military Council, Courts
    2. 7:36The LIBOR and Why It MattersYou’re reading this
    3. 41:35Obama and Romney Try Framing Tax Cut Debate
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

    • KCRW placeholder

      Katie Cooper

      Producer, 'One year Later'

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Frances Anderton

      architecture critic and author

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Gideon Brower

      Independent Producer

    • KCRW placeholder

      Kara Scannell

      Financial Times

    • KCRW placeholder

      George Nilson

      City of Baltimore

    • KCRW placeholder

      William D. Cohan

      business writer and former Wall Street investment banker

      NewsNationalPolitics

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Barclays, LIBOR and Banking Culture
    1. 0:00Showdown Deepens Between Egypt's President, Military Council, Courts
    2. 7:36The LIBOR and Why It MattersYou’re reading this
    3. 41:35Obama and Romney Try Framing Tax Cut Debate
    Back to To the Point