Barclays caught fiddling!(All the banks now!)

[blueinsa]

Re: Barclays caught fiddling!

Chairman Marcus Agius falls on his sword claiming the buck stops with him.

He wishes it stopped with him...

Interestingly, this means under FSA rules that Diamond is safe for now as they wont allow to high profile bosses to go at the same time.

A noble gesture rarely seen. Calculated mind.

As I said, designed to deflect attention and safeguard Diamond.

Whats the feeling in the City in general to all this?

Are they genuinely shocked and worried or is it a case of fuck it, business as usual it will all blow over?

I don't for one second think that the majority of staff are guilty of any wrong doing but i can not accept that those at the top of institutions were ignorant as claimed. They knew ere the profits were being made and how, surely?

 

[metalblue]

Re: Barclays caught fiddling!

Chairman Marcus Agius falls on his sword claiming the buck stops with him.

He wishes it stopped with him...

Interestingly, this means under FSA rules that Diamond is safe for now as they wont allow to high profile bosses to go at the same time.

A noble gesture rarely seen. Calculated mind.

As I said, designed to deflect attention and safeguard Diamond.

Whats the feeling in the City in general to all this?

Are they genuinely shocked and worried or is it a case of fuck it, business as usual it will all blow over?

I don't for one second think that the majority of staff are guilty of any wrong doing but i can not accept that those at the top of institutions were ignorant as claimed. They knew ere the profits were being made and how, surely?

The general feeling amongst those I talk too is one of "for fuck sakes not again" and a bit of disbelief that they thought they could "get away" with it but I've not discussed at length. Beyond that it doesn't impact me any more than anyone else out there apart from the looming additional guilty parties and fines to come and how that might impact.

Knowing how these things work somebody needs to alert the compliance department to wrongdoing for the calls to be pulled and transactions investigated. Normally when an allegation is made you would be suspended pending investigation and the FSA alerted (which I believe is what has happened here). As you say the vast majority of people would have no idea, profits being made if not excessive would not normally alert senior management, so it's reasonable to assume the number of people involved is very small - they should all face criminal investigation.

 

[blueinsa]

Re: Barclays caught fiddling!

A noble gesture rarely seen. Calculated mind.

As I said, designed to deflect attention and safeguard Diamond.

Whats the feeling in the City in general to all this?

Are they genuinely shocked and worried or is it a case of fuck it, business as usual it will all blow over?

I don't for one second think that the majority of staff are guilty of any wrong doing but i can not accept that those at the top of institutions were ignorant as claimed. They knew ere the profits were being made and how, surely?

The general feeling amongst those I talk too is one of "for fuck sakes not again" and a bit of disbelief that they thought they could "get away" with it but I've not discussed at length. Beyond that it doesn't impact me any more than anyone else out there apart from the looming additional guilty parties and fines to come and how that might impact.

Knowing how these things work somebody needs to alert the compliance department to wrongdoing for the calls to be pulled and transactions investigated. Normally when an allegation is made you would be suspended pending investigation and the FSA alerted (which I believe is what has happened here). As you say the vast majority of people would have no idea, profits being made if not excessive would not normally alert senior management, so it's reasonable to assume the number of people involved is very small - they should all face criminal investigation.

Thanks for the response mate as always.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Re: Barclays caught fiddling!

Three of my ex-bosses were sent to jail a few years ago for fraud. They were directors of an insurance company and hadn't embezzled any money or otherwise enriched themselves but they had failed to report large claims that would affect their cash-flow position and inflated profits. This was deemed to have misled shareholders, policyholders, advisers and regulators. As a result a large scale cash injection was needed but bankers pulled the plug and the company collapsed with the loss of over 1,000 jobs. The chairman got 7 years and my boss, the finance director, got 4 years.

I don't see they've done anything different to Barclays' attempt to misrepresent the cost they were paying for credit via the Libor rate. The directors have clearly misrepresented their financial position to the market and their investors, to the detriment of those investors. That's fraud.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Re: Barclays caught fiddling!

Three of my ex-bosses were sent to jail a few years ago for fraud. They were directors of an insurance company and hadn't embezzled any money or otherwise enriched themselves but they had failed to report large claims that would affect their cash-flow position and inflated profits. This was deemed to have misled shareholders, policyholders, advisers and regulators. As a result a large scale cash injection was needed but bankers pulled the plug and the company collapsed with the loss of over 1,000 jobs. The chairman got 7 years and my boss, the finance director, got 4 years.

I don't see they've done anything different to Barclays' attempt to misrepresent the cost they were paying for credit via the Libor rate. The directors have clearly misrepresented their financial position to the market and their investors, to the detriment of those investors. That's fraud.

It has to be dishonest to be fraud. The way you paint the picture about your former bosses it sounds more like an administrative oversight.

 

[twinkletoes]

Re: Barclays caught fiddling!

Bob Diamond claims he spoke to Paul Tucker, deputy of the BOE and Barclays staff came to believe the Bank of England wanted them to falsify this data — which was used to calculate Libor.

So Bob Diamond cannot say he was not aware of what was happening.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Re: Barclays caught fiddling!

Three of my ex-bosses were sent to jail a few years ago for fraud. They were directors of an insurance company and hadn't embezzled any money or otherwise enriched themselves but they had failed to report large claims that would affect their cash-flow position and inflated profits. This was deemed to have misled shareholders, policyholders, advisers and regulators. As a result a large scale cash injection was needed but bankers pulled the plug and the company collapsed with the loss of over 1,000 jobs. The chairman got 7 years and my boss, the finance director, got 4 years.

I don't see they've done anything different to Barclays' attempt to misrepresent the cost they were paying for credit via the Libor rate. The directors have clearly misrepresented their financial position to the market and their investors, to the detriment of those investors. That's fraud.

It has to be dishonest to be fraud. The way you paint the picture about your former bosses it sounds more like an administrative oversight.

I wasn't attempting to minimise it. It was a deliberate attempt to make the figures look better than they were. But that's what I understand Barclays may have done, which is to deliberately conspire to make their borrowing costs look lower than they actually were. If the markets had known the truth then it could have been more difficult for Barclays to raise funds and the share price would have been lower.

My ex-bosses did it to keep the company afloat, one they'd worked hard to get to where it was (or where people thought it was). Their own fortunes were tied up in it so there was certainly some self-interest. Barclays also seem to have done it mainly to protect the company but that doesn't mean it's not fraudulent.

In fact it's similar to any of us applying for a mortgage and misrepresenting our income and/our failing to disclose we had other mortgages.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Re: Barclays caught fiddling!

Three of my ex-bosses were sent to jail a few years ago for fraud. They were directors of an insurance company and hadn't embezzled any money or otherwise enriched themselves but they had failed to report large claims that would affect their cash-flow position and inflated profits. This was deemed to have misled shareholders, policyholders, advisers and regulators. As a result a large scale cash injection was needed but bankers pulled the plug and the company collapsed with the loss of over 1,000 jobs. The chairman got 7 years and my boss, the finance director, got 4 years.

I don't see they've done anything different to Barclays' attempt to misrepresent the cost they were paying for credit via the Libor rate. The directors have clearly misrepresented their financial position to the market and their investors, to the detriment of those investors. That's fraud.

It has to be dishonest to be fraud. The way you paint the picture about your former bosses it sounds more like an administrative oversight.

I wasn't attempting to minimise it. It was a deliberate attempt to make the figures look better than they were. But that's what I understand Barclays may have done, which is to deliberately conspire to make their borrowing costs look lower than they actually were. If the markets had known the truth then it could have been more difficult for Barclays to raise funds and the share price would have been lower.

My ex-bosses did it to keep the company afloat, one they'd worked hard to get to where it was (or where people thought it was). Their own fortunes were tied up in it so there was certainly some self-interest. Barclays also seem to have done it mainly to protect the company but that doesn't mean it's not fraudulent.

In fact it's similar to any of us applying for a mortgage and misrepresenting our income and/our failing to disclose we had other mortgages.

I disagree with nothing that you say about Barclays,but your form of words when describing your former bosses was a little anodyne given the length of the prison sentence IMO.

 

[pauldominic]

Re: Barclays caught fiddling!

A noble gesture rarely seen. Calculated mind.

As I said, designed to deflect attention and safeguard Diamond.

Whats the feeling in the City in general to all this?

Are they genuinely shocked and worried or is it a case of fuck it, business as usual it will all blow over?

I don't for one second think that the majority of staff are guilty of any wrong doing but i can not accept that those at the top of institutions were ignorant as claimed. They knew ere the profits were being made and how, surely?

The general feeling amongst those I talk too is one of "for fuck sakes not again" and a bit of disbelief that they thought they could "get away" with it but I've not discussed at length. Beyond that it doesn't impact me any more than anyone else out there apart from the looming additional guilty parties and fines to come and how that might impact.

Knowing how these things work somebody needs to alert the compliance department to wrongdoing for the calls to be pulled and transactions investigated. Normally when an allegation is made you would be suspended pending investigation and the FSA alerted (which I believe is what has happened here). As you say the vast majority of people would have no idea, profits being made if not excessive would not normally alert senior management, so it's reasonable to assume the number of people involved is very small - they should all face criminal investigation.

Sincere thanks MB.

What I don't understand is why they can't separate people onto different email networks.

There are some pretty obvious conflicts of interest and it wouldn't stop efficient communication.

 

[pauldominic]

Re: Barclays caught fiddling!

Three of my ex-bosses were sent to jail a few years ago for fraud. They were directors of an insurance company and hadn't embezzled any money or otherwise enriched themselves but they had failed to report large claims that would affect their cash-flow position and inflated profits. This was deemed to have misled shareholders, policyholders, advisers and regulators. As a result a large scale cash injection was needed but bankers pulled the plug and the company collapsed with the loss of over 1,000 jobs. The chairman got 7 years and my boss, the finance director, got 4 years.

I don't see they've done anything different to Barclays' attempt to misrepresent the cost they were paying for credit via the Libor rate. The directors have clearly misrepresented their financial position to the market and their investors, to the detriment of those investors. That's fraud.

It has to be dishonest to be fraud. The way you paint the picture about your former bosses it sounds more like an administrative oversight.

I wasn't attempting to minimise it. It was a deliberate attempt to make the figures look better than they were. But that's what I understand Barclays may have done, which is to deliberately conspire to make their borrowing costs look lower than they actually were. If the markets had known the truth then it could have been more difficult for Barclays to raise funds and the share price would have been lower.

My ex-bosses did it to keep the company afloat, one they'd worked hard to get to where it was (or where people thought it was). Their own fortunes were tied up in it so there was certainly some self-interest. Barclays also seem to have done it mainly to protect the company but that doesn't mean it's not fraudulent.

In fact it's similar to any of us applying for a mortgage and misrepresenting our income and/our failing to disclose we had other mortgages.

I'm not sure its similar to that.

If 3 ex-bosses were sent to jail, they've been sent through the full rigour of the criminal justice system and they would have been found not guilty at some point.<br /><br />-- Mon Jul 02, 2012 2:47 pm --<br /><br />

Bob Diamond claims he spoke to Paul Tucker, deputy of the BOE and Barclays staff came to believe the Bank of England wanted them to falsify this data — which was used to calculate Libor.

So Bob Diamond cannot say he was not aware of what was happening.

If True, that is the scariest thing of all.