Barclays Plc executives, both current and former ones, had knowledge that the bank had submitted lower than accurate LIbOR figures as early as 2007. This was according to transcripts between executives cited during a UK court hearing.
Barclays Money Market Desk Head Mark Dearlove told another Barclays executive Jonathan Stone of complaints received on the bank's submissions from an employee of JPMorgan Chase. The said discussion was recorded last December 2007 and was handed down in court today. The document is being used as evidence in another legal matter in London where Barclays was being sued over an interest rate swap.
In the transcript, Dearlove said, "I don't know what you guys are playing at. We know you're paying USD540 million, why are you setting LIbOR rates at 530?"
The companies in the Guardian Care Homes Group are filing suit against Barclays in order to nullify an interest rate swap deal linked to the controversial LIbOR. The group said they wouid not have agreed to the deal if they knew the benchmark was rigged. Barclays filed an appeal against the LIbOR claims and is being litigated in another swap case filed against Deutsche Bank AG filed by Indian property developer Unitech Ltd.
In an email Barclays spokesperson said that while Barclays has not objected to the material being produced, he said, "The bank does not consider any of the new evidence to be relevant to the issues in front of the Court of Appeal."
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