Geithner kept Libor rigging information from Brits, Justice Department

[n2doc]

by Jia Lynn Yang and Danielle Douglas, Published: July 24

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has said that he sounded the alarm four years ago to regulators about problems with the benchmark interest rate known as Libor.

But Geithner, who was then head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, did not communicate in key meetings with top regulators that British bank Barclays had admitted to Fed staffers that it was rigging Libor, according to people familiar with the matter.

Instead, regulators at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Justice Department worked largely without the Fed’s help to build a case against Barclays. That work has culminated in a massive scandal rocking the banking industry on both sides of the Atlantic.

As Geithner prepares to testify Wednesday morning on Capitol Hill, he returns to a familiar position as a lightning rod for critics on the left and the right who find fault in his work as a banking regulator before he joined the White House and as a bailout architect under President Obama.

more

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/ny-fed-silent-on-barclays-admission-of-rigging-libor/2012/07/24/gJQA2eWg7W_story.html?hpid=z1

[xchrom]

1. Du rec. Nt

[roguevalley]

15. mr. fucking transparency. quelle surprise.

[MannyGoldstein]

2. His charter is to protect bankers at all costs

And he's done a fantastic job, don't you think?

The 99% have rarely seen such a brutally effective foe.

[Sticky]

3. President Obama's first nail in the coffin

of Hope and Change. I remember feeling devastated by this appointment 4 years ago. Geithner ( IMHO) was the worst possible choice !

[Scuba]

4. Why oh why did Obama ever pick this guy? I'll never understand that.

[Volaris]

7. There were 2 approaches to could this mess that could have been used...

If an airplane falls out of the sky, you can either:
A) find out what went wrong and get it fixed, so that you can put all of the other planes back into the sky as fast as possible.
B) you can decide (finally) that you're done messing with air travel, and scrap that industry in favor of building coast-to-coast high speed rail.

Timmy (and Bernanke) are the guys who know how put the planes back in the air. As scholars, that's their life's work. As "Public" Servants, that is their career specialty.
But neither one of them knows dick about trains.

I can only guess at the reasons for deciding on choice A over B (It probably has something to do with the idea that if you are going to get only ONE thing done first-term, Healthcare overhaul is going to be the priority) but since the decision WAS choice A over B, I would have to say there is none better qualified to carry out the mechanisms for making "A" work than the men who got the job. That's not a defense of the CHOICE that was made, mind you, but one rather of the skill-sets inherent to the men who really understand how "A" works in the first place.

P.S. --I still think Geithner is a rattlesnake.

[Scuba]

10. False choice.

[Volaris]

16. Fair enough, but then I get to ask why you think that, and what another option could have been.

[Scuba]

17. I'm no expert on the candidates nor the politics, but a couple names I'll float....

Elizabeth Warren

Richard Cordray

Robert Reich

There are no doubt countless other, perhaps better, candidates.

[closeupready]

18. Yeah, lol - Robert Reich who gave us NAFTA on a silver platter.

Elizabeth Warren, OTOH, would have been so much better.

As to Geithner, well, you know, he's running the Federal Reserve and fails to pay his taxes... Um, that should have been Strikes One Two and Three.

But as others have implied, he was chosen in order to keep the rich rich. And he's done well at that.

[Scuba]

19. How about Paul Krugman?

[closeupready]

20. He'd be a terrific advocate for the little guy - no chance,

as a result, to replace Geithner. Sort of like how Warren had to fight tooth and nail to set up a financial consumer advocacy bureau. Any movement or nomination in DC that doesn't ultimately serve to primarily protect the super-rich has no chance of succeeding. A Krugman nomination would be just that.

[Bluenorthwest]

5. Timmy was the choice that really told us things were not really going to change

That little thug is a tax cheat, and he got special deals when the rest of us are reamed for an error. Barf on Tim.

[Bonhomme Richard]

6. No matter how he try's to paint this, the picture.....

is clear. He was doing his best to protect his cronies.

[Egalitarian Thug]

8. "Find fault in his work" talk about an understatement.

He and the previous pResident both embody of the phrase, "Fuck up to move up". If you're born into the right family it doesn't matter if you are a walking serial disaster.

[northoftheborder]

9. Obama had better fire this guy, NOW, if not yesterday. Geihtner could sink the ship.

[uponit7771]

11. Geithner clames he told them when they found out almost 2 yrs ago.....hmmm

[Javaman]

12. What? little timmy a fraud? I find that HARD to believe. nt

[ProSense]

13. Frankly

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has said that he sounded the alarm four years ago to regulators about problems with the benchmark interest rate known as Libor.

But Geithner, who was then head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, did not communicate in key meetings with top regulators that British bank Barclays had admitted to Fed staffers that it was rigging Libor, according to people familiar with the matter.

Instead, regulators at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Justice Department worked largely without the Fed’s help to build a case against Barclays. That work has culminated in a massive scandal rocking the banking industry on both sides of the Atlantic.

...this seems like more lame attempts by the MSM to implicate someone in the Obama administration.

I mean, "Geithner has said that he sounded the alarm four years ago," but some people say that he didn't "communicate in key meetings with top regulators that British bank Barclays had admitted to Fed staffers that it was rigging Libor"?

That's awfully "he said, she said."

If the Feds built "a case against Barclays" without indicting or implicating Geithner, what does it matter if a bunch of people are claiming Barclays told him stuff that he didn't communicate? It's his word against theirs, and there are reports that he did raise concern.

<...>

This week, the oversight panel of the House Financial Services Committee sent a letter to the New York Fed seeking transcripts from several phone calls involving regulators and Barclays’ executives. The New York Fed plans to release the transcripts on Friday.

Mr. Geithner is not mentioned in the transcripts, a person briefed on the matter said who did not want to be identified because the investigation was continuing. But it is unclear if other documents will detail whether he had deeper knowledge of the issues with Libor, and what further actions — if any — Mr. Geithner took. According to the person briefed on the matter, New York Fed officials told regulators in Washington about the problems with Libor.

<...>

In April 2008, a Barclays employee acknowledged to the Financial Services Authority of Britain that the bank was lowering its Libor submissions. “So, to the extent that, um, the Libors have been understated, are we guilty of being part of the pack? You could say we are,” the Barclays manager said, according to regulatory documents. Barclays made similar comments to the New York Fed, the documents say.

The bank never explicitly told regulators that it was reporting false interest rates that amounted to manipulation, according to regulatory documents.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/07/12/geithner-was-aware-of-problems-with-key-interest-rates/

We'll know more when he testifies.

[bigtree]

14. thanks, Pro Sense

... for your unfailingly factual and informative response