mardi 6 janvier 2015
Bill swap rate fixing is a scandal in waiting
Posted on 12:26 by nice news
If the Australian Securities and Investments Commission can establish that big banks have featured in the manipulation of the bank bill swap rate, it could well prove to be the largest corporate scandal of 2015.
A clutch of large trading and investment banks are being investigated by the corporate regulator for colluding in order to tamper with this interest rate to generate profits estimated to be in the hundreds of millions. Details of those potentially involved are starting to dribble out into the public domain.
It is probably the tip of the iceberg.It doesn't generate mass public interest in the same way as bank financial adviser misbehaviour, because the superannuants and personal investors don't feel directly affected.
But with any collusion there are victims – those who trade in the market and are counter-parties are the losers.
A 10-strong team from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission has been on the case for more than a year and has taken three scalps – investment banks BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS, all of which have been fined more than $1 million.
But the big Australian trading banks – the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the National Australia Bank, Westpac and ANZ – would have to be in the firing line given they are the major players in the market.
The only one of the four majors to have taken a recognisable stance is the ANZ, which has suspended seven of its bank bill swap rate traders – one of whom was outed this week, Etienne Alexiuo, who who heads the bank's balance sheet trading and oversees a portfolio worth more than $120 billion.
His name will mean little outside the small world of derivatives trading, but these high-octane operatives oversee billions of dollars and their multimillion salaries reflect the fact that these rainmakers can earn (or lose) their banks millions each year.
They are the Masters of the Universe equivalents.
ANZ has launched its own
A clutch of large trading and investment banks are being investigated by the corporate regulator for colluding in order to tamper with this interest rate to generate profits estimated to be in the hundreds of millions. Details of those potentially involved are starting to dribble out into the public domain.
It is probably the tip of the iceberg.It doesn't generate mass public interest in the same way as bank financial adviser misbehaviour, because the superannuants and personal investors don't feel directly affected.
But with any collusion there are victims – those who trade in the market and are counter-parties are the losers.
A 10-strong team from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission has been on the case for more than a year and has taken three scalps – investment banks BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS, all of which have been fined more than $1 million.
But the big Australian trading banks – the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the National Australia Bank, Westpac and ANZ – would have to be in the firing line given they are the major players in the market.
The only one of the four majors to have taken a recognisable stance is the ANZ, which has suspended seven of its bank bill swap rate traders – one of whom was outed this week, Etienne Alexiuo, who who heads the bank's balance sheet trading and oversees a portfolio worth more than $120 billion.
His name will mean little outside the small world of derivatives trading, but these high-octane operatives oversee billions of dollars and their multimillion salaries reflect the fact that these rainmakers can earn (or lose) their banks millions each year.
They are the Masters of the Universe equivalents.
ANZ has launched its own
Bill swap rate fixing is a scandal in waiting
Categories: Bill swap rate fixing is a scandal in waiting
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