A woman walks past a line of Barclays cash dispensers in central London.Photo: Reuters

New details from court documents and sources close to the Libor scandal investigation suggest that groups of traders working at three major European banks were heavily involved in rigging global benchmark interest rates.

Some of those traders, including one who used to work at Barclays Plc in New York, still have senior positions on Wall Street trading desks.

Until now, most of the attention has involved traders at Barclays, which last month reached a $453 million settlement with US and UK authorities for its role in the manipulation of rates. Now, it is becoming clear that traders from at least two other banks -- UK-based Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Switzerland's UBS AG -- played a central role.

Between them, the three banks employed more than a dozen traders who sought to influence rates in either dollar, euro or yen rates. Some of the traders who are being probed have worked for several banks under scrutiny, raising the possibility that the rate fixing became more ingrained as traders changed jobs.

The documents reviewed by Reuters in analyzing the traders' involvement included court filings by Canadian regulators who have been investigating potential antitrust issues; settlement documents with Barclays filed by the US Department of Justice and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington and by the Financial Services Authority in the UK; and a private employment lawsuit filed by a former RBS trader in Singapore's High Court.

The scandal, which began to come to light in 2008, has become a time bomb for regulators and a big focus for politicians on both sides of the Atlantic. At issue is the manipulation between at least 2005 and 2009 of rates that are used to determine the cost of trillions of dollars of borrowings, including everything from home loans to credit card rates.

One former Barclays employee under scrutiny, Reuters has learned, is Jay V Merchant, according to people familiar with the situation. Merchant, who oversaw the U.S. dollar swaps trading desk at Barclays in New York, worked for the bank from March 2006 to October 2009, according to employment records maintained by the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

Merchant currently holds a similar position at UBS, where he works out of the Swiss bank's offices in Stamford, Connecticut, according to FINRA. He did not return requests for comment.

People familiar with the investigation said authorities are looking at whether some individuals on Merchant's trading desk tried to influence the rate on Libor by communicating with other traders in London to get a higher return on certain swaps the desk was trading. His specific role is unclear.

The Department of Justice declined to comment.

Merchant's attorney, John Kenney of Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney, did not respond to requests seeking comment.

A UBS spokeswoman said that the bank has "no reason to believe Mr. Merchant has engaged in any improper conduct at UBS." The spokeswoman, who noted that Merchant is on a two-week vacation, declined to comment on the broader investigation.

Barclays declined to comment. In a statement, an RBS spokeswoman said the bank is cooperating with the investigation.

SPREAD FROM BARCLAYS

Earlier this week, Reuters reported that federal prosecutors in Washington have begun reaching out to lawyers for some of the individuals under scrutiny as they get closer to bringing possible criminal charges.

The dollar and euro rate-rigging appears to have begun in earnest in early 2005 in the dollar market, according to the documents reviewed by Reuters. By August of that year, Barclays traders were reaching out to traders at other big global banks to manipulate their rates to make them favourable to Barclays' trading positions.

Soon, the trading had crossed to the euro rate markets, according to the settlement documents filed in the Barclays investigation. And by 2007, traders at RBS and UBS were seeking to influence the yen rate market, according to documents filed in 2011 in Singapore's High Court and in Canada's Ontario Superior Court.

Traders at Barclays are believed to have participated in manipulating the rate for the dollar and the rate for the euro known as Euribor, according to documents filed in the Barclays settlement last month.

RBS and UBS traders are a focus of the global investigation because of their alleged involvement in seeking to influence yen-denominated rates.

Two RBS traders in London, Brent Davies and Will Hall, are alleged to have agreed to help a trader at UBS, Thomas Hayes, to manipulate yen Libor, according to court documents filed by the Canadian Competition Bureau.

UBS is cooperating with Canadian and US authorities, according to people familiar with the situation.

Hayes worked at UBS from 2006 to 2009. He later moved to Citigroup where he remained until 2010, after which he left the bank. Hayes, Davies and Hall could not be reached for comment.

The documents reveal that Hayes also contacted traders at other banks in London to get them to manipulate yen rates. They include Peter O'Leary at HSBC Holdings Plc, Guillaume Adolph at Deutsche, and Paul Glands at JPMorgan. A second UBS employee sought to get a Citigroup trader, who formerly had worked at UBS, to influence rates.

None of these traders could be reached for comment.

CONDONED

In addition, a former trader at RBS, Tan Chi Min, said in a wrongful termination lawsuit filed in the Singapore High Court in 2011 that he was forced out for "improperly seeking to influence" the setting of Libor. Tan, who ran a trading desk at RBS, said in the suit that improper rate-rigging was known by some at the bank and condoned.

Tan denied trying to manipulate Libor, and alleged in the 2011 court filing, and one in March this year, that about a half dozen other RBS traders openly tried to request specific rates.

Tan's attorney, N Sreenivasan, declined to comment because the court case is ongoing.

Beyond traders at the three European banks, authorities are still probing the role of others.

For example, traders at JPMorgan Chase & Co also interacted with some of the traders under scrutiny who worked for Barclays and RBS, according to a person familiar with the situation and court documents filed in Singapore.

Similarly, Deutsche Bank AG also had several employees whose trading is under scrutiny by authorities, according to people familiar with the situation and court documents filed in Canada.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 29th July 2012

 The management of National Bank Limited (NBL) declared to invest Tk 3 billion in a bid to bring stability and restore investor’s confidence on share market.

The decision of investment in stock market came at board meeting of the Bank Monday.

A meeting source said the Bank took the decision to bring the market on a right track and restore investor’s confidence.

Earlier, four private banks--- NCC Bank, Standard Bank, Exim Bank and Pubali Bank declared to invest Tk 9 billion in the stock market to give funds support to ailing market.

Commenting on banks investment Akter H Sannamat, Managing Director of Union Capital told daily sun that this would give supports to the fund ridden market and help restore investors’ confidence.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 25th July 2012

Prof. Abu Nasser Muhammad Abduz Zaher, Chairman of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited speaks at a day-long orientation programme at Mohammad Younus Auditorium of Islami Bank Tower in Dhaka.

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) organised a day-long orientation programme for 53 newly-appointed Assistant Officers at Mohammad Yunus Auditorium of city’s Islami Bank Tower Sunday.

Prof Abu Nasser Muhammad Abduz Zaher, chairman of the Bank, was present in the programme as chief guest.

Earlier, Mohammad Abdul Mannan, Managing Director (MD) of the Bank, inaugurated the orientation programme.

DMDs Md Shamsul Haque, Md Habibur Rahman, Syed Abdullah Mohammed Saleh, Executive Vice President (EVP) and Head of Human Resources Division Abdus Sadeque Bhuiyan, and Dr Mahmood Ahmed, EVP and Director (Training) of Islami Bank Training & Research Academy (IBTRA), among others, were present in the programme.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 25th July 2012

High officials of Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd seen with the children who had undergone plastic surgery on their lips organised by the Bank.

Dutch-Bangla Bank organised a four-day long plastic surgery operation camp at its own cost at Good Heal Hospital, Maijdee, Noakhali.

The camp was organised under the Smile-Brighter programme to bring back smile on the faces of the poor cleft-lipped boys and girls, said a press release.

A total of 64 boys and girls were operated by a plastic surgery team headed by eminent plastic surgeon Dr. AJM Salek.

Managers of Basurhat and Choumuhani branches of the Bank visited the camp.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 25th July 2012

Dr. Moha-mmed Haider Ali Miah recently joined Ex-port Import Bank of Ban-gladesh Li-mited as Managing Director.

Prior to his new assignment, he was Additional Managing Director, Deputy Managing Director and also served in various capacities, said a press release.

Dr. Haider started his career as a Probationary Officer with IBBL in 1984.

After completing his BSc (Hons) and MSc from the University of Dhaka, he obtained MBA degree from the London Institute of Technology and Research (LITR), UK.

He obtained Diploma from the Institute of Bankers' Bangladesh (DAIBB) and Post Graduation from the Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance, London and completed PhD from American World University, USA.

Dr. Ali, a renowned columnist and writer of some books on Islamic Banking, was accorded three times with Exim Bank gold medals for his outstanding performance.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 25th July 2012