Legal News

A former City trader with investment banks UBS and Citigroup is standing trial at Southwark Crown Court over alleged conspiracy to rig global interest rates.

Tom Hayes, 35, from Surrey faces eight charges of conspiracy to defraud and dishonestly seeking to manipulate Japanese yen Libor rates, the Daily Mail reports.

He was arrested in December 2012 during an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into the rate-rigging scandal. In December 2013, he pleaded not guilty to the charges – four of the charges relate to Swiss bank UBS between 2006 and 2009 and four charges relate to Citigroup between 2009 and 2010.

London Interbank Offered Rate – Libor – is used to set the amount of interest paid on loans between banks.

The trial started on Tuesday (26/05/15) and is expected to last between ten and 12 weeks.

If found guilty, Mr Hayes could face up to ten years in jail.

As a result of the SFO investigation in rate fixing, Barclays has been fined £1.5 million. The Financial Conduct Authority called systems and controls in the bank’s foreign exchange business “inadequate” when rate fixing occurred between 1 January 2008 and 15 October 2013.

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