LIBOR Scandal

About LIBOR Scandal

The LIBOR scandal involved major banks manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate, the benchmark for over 350 trillion in financial products including mortgages, student loans, and derivatives. Traders at Barclays, UBS, Deutsche Bank, and others submitted false rates to profit from derivative positions. The scandal broke in 2012 when Barclays paid 450 million in fines. Total fines exceeded 9 billion. LIBOR was embedded in financial contracts globally, affecting millions of consumers. The scandal led to the phaseout of LIBOR, replaced by SOFR in the US and SONIA in the UK by 2023. The LIBOR manipulation was one of the largest financial frauds in history by scope.