Criminal inquiry on rate fixing

The Times by Patrick Hosking, Mark Bridge

The Serious Fraud Office has confirmed that it will carry out a full criminal investigation into the rigging of markets and cheating of trading partners by Barclays, and possibly others.

The move came amid reports of growing numbers of Barclays customers defecting to banks and building societies they see as more ethical. The bank has already paid fines totalling £291m to settle investigations in the UK and US.

The scandal has seen Barclays’ chairman, chief executive and chief operating officer all leave their positions and Alva, which tracks media, analysts’ notes and other sources to score companies’ reputations, states that the bank’s corporate reputation has worsened by 27% in the past five weeks.