BBA Will Tighten Libor Oversight, But No Bombshells in Annual Report
The British Bankers’ Association made no change to the Libor-setting panels of USD, EUR and GBP fixes, among others, according to its annual review. It will strengthen oversight, with “details to be published in due course.”
Concerns over the benchmark rate have been stoked by numerous media reports that banks may be reporting artificially lower or higher Libor rates to mask balance sheet woes. The BBA report wasn’t expected to amount to much, but the next set of recommendations from the association could go as far as requiring banks to report actual transaction quotes, rather than estimates, in their Libor fixes.
Meanwhile, the Boston FED’s Rosengren commented this afternoon that the FED’s liquidity actions have helped ease interbank rates.