Barclays Must Disclose Libor Traders, Submitters: Judge

By Kit Chellel – Nov 14, 2012 8:39 AM ET

Barclays Plc (BARC) must disclose the identities of Libor traders and employees that made submissions to set interest rates, after a ruling today in the first U.K. lawsuit related to manipulation of the London interbank offered rate.

Judge Julian Flaux in London said the bank must give the information on the workers to Guardian Care Homes Ltd., which sued the bank over a loss-making interest-rate swap tied to Libor. London-based Barclays must also provide Guardian the e- mail communications of 42 employees, transcripts of phone conversations that refer to Libor, board minutes and documents from the bank’s treasury committee, Flaux ruled.

Flaux hasn’t yet ruled whether the bank must disclose the information only to Guardian or if it should be made public.

Barclays failed to have the Libor-fixing part of the suit thrown out on Oct. 29 when a judge ruled it would have to answer accusations it profited from rigging Libor submissions. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Guardian sued over the swap that cost it about 12 million pounds ($19 million), saying Libor — the baseline for about $300 trillion of contracts worldwide — can’t be trusted. In June, the lender was fined a record 290 million pounds after regulators found its investment bankers tried to manipulate the interest rate.

Barclays failed to have the Libor-fixing part of the suit thrown out on Oct. 29 when a judge ruled it would have to answer accusations it profited from rigging Libor submissions.

Barclays spokesman Jon Laycock wasn’t immediately available to comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kit Chellel in London at cchellel@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net