Michael Barr, Nov 28, 2012
But what about reform? Didn’t the British authorities just fix the problem?
No.
The “Wheatley Report” issued last month is definitely better than the status quo. It echoes a series of reform proposals first put out by the New York Federal Reserve Bank in 2008-making LIBOR less subject to manipulation, and requiring the auditing of submissions. This is all for the good. If we have to keep LIBOR, making it subject to greater scrutiny is definitely preferable to the status quo.
But at this point, it is not enough. The proposed reforms are too reliant on the existing structure of LIBOR, and come too late to save it. Continued reliance on LIBOR rightly undermines trust in the financial system.
What should we do going forward?
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