SHARE
COPY LINK

FRAUD

Banks need to change, UBS tells UK politicians

The banking sector "needs to change" after it became "too arrogant" in the run-up to the infamous Libor rate-rigging scandal, the head of the investment bank division of UBS told British lawmakers in London on Wednesday.

Banks need to change, UBS tells UK politicians
Andrea Orcel, CEO of UBS Investment Bank. Photo: UBS

"We all got probably too arrogant, too self-convinced that things were correct the way they were. I think the industry needs to change," Andrea Orcel told the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, which was set up to examine the Libor crisis.

"There are certainly elements of our cultures which are negative and that we need to root out," he told the commission, which is a scrutiny panel composed of lawmakers from parliament's upper and lower houses.

"We are in the process of rooting out."

The Commission, established by British finance minister George Osborne, is looking into banking standards and culture in the wake of the Libor rate-rigging scandal that has rocked Barclays and UBS.

US, British and Swiss authorities last month hit Switzerland's largest bank with $1.5 billion in fines — the second-largest banking penalty ever — for massive misconduct in the setting of the Libor rate.

"We are very focused on recovering the honour and standing the organization had in the past," said Orcel, an Italian who was appointed to head UBS's investment bank last fall.

"I am convinced that we have made a lot of progress," he said.

"I am also convinced that we still need to do more."

The Libor rate is used as a benchmark for global financial contracts worth about $300 trillion, and revelations that it had been rigged have harmed the reputation of the City of London financial centre, though the misconduct is believed to have occurred elsewhere as well.

The crisis erupted last June after British bank Barclays was fined £290 million ($470 million) by British and US regulators for attempted manipulation of Libor and Euribor interbank rates between 2005 and 2009.
 
Libor is calculated daily, using estimates from banks of their own rates.

However, the system has been found to be open to abuse, with some traders lying about borrowing costs to boost trading positions or make their bank seem more secure.
   
The London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) is a flagship instrument used all over the world, affecting what banks, businesses and individuals pay to borrow money.

Euribor is the eurozone equivalent.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

GERMANY

Germany cracks down on fake Covid vaccine documents

German police have set up a special team to fight a growing number of forged vaccine certificates being sold in the black market

Germany cracks down on fake Covid vaccine documents
People who are fully vaccinated can show their vaccination booklet, which has a stamp and a sticker inside. Photo: Ina FASSBENDER / AFP

Police in Cologne have warned of a group of fraudsters selling fake vaccination certificates, a growing problem the scale of which is still unclear.

The police said the fraudsters worked in encrypted Telegram chats, making investigations difficult, and were selling fake documents with all the stamps and signatures, including a mark about vaccination with BioNTech or AstraZeneca.

READ ALSO: Germany probes Covid-19 testing centres for fraud

The fraud involved both real traffic in fake documents as well as scams luring customers into paying €100.

People in Germany who are fully vaccinated can show their vaccination booklet, which has a stamp and a sticker inside. Those who don’t have a booklet get a piece of paper.

Covid health passes are currently being rolled out across the EU, with a European health passport expected to be available from mid-June.

READ ALSO: What’s the latest on how the EU’s ‘Covid passports’ will work for travellers?

Over 44% of the adult population in Germany has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and more than 18% of Germans have been fully vaccinated.

German police have said forged coronavirus vaccine documents are becoming an increasing problem.

Last month, a couple in Baden-Württemberg was accused of selling fake coronavirus vaccination certificates.

SHOW COMMENTS