金利不正操作 市場の信頼回復へ改革を急げ

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Jul. 22, 2012)
Reform urged to regain trust of market amid Libor scandal
金利不正操作　市場の信頼回復へ改革を急げ（7月21日付・読売社説）

Distrust in financial markets has been heightened recently by suspected rigging in Britain of the world's most highly cited benchmark interest rate. Financial authorities must dig up the whole truth of the rate manipulation scandal to work out thorough measures to prevent a recurrence of the problem.
　国際的な基準金利の不正操作が英国で発覚し、市場への不信感が高まっている。金融当局は真相を解明して再発防止策を徹底すべきである。

We refer, of course, to the rate-fixing scandal involving the London Interbank Offered Rate, better known as Libor.
　ＬＩＢＯＲ（ライボー）と呼ばれる「ロンドン銀行間取引金利」を巡る不正事件のことだ。

Libor is calculated on the basis of unregulated estimates of rates that major commercial banks operating in London--from Europe, the United States and elsewhere--submit to the British Bankers' Association, regarding costs the banks incur when borrowing from each other.
　ＬＩＢＯＲは、ロンドン市場で取引する欧米などの大手銀行が英銀行協会に自己申告する調達金利をもとに算出される。

Libor is widely used as a benchmark in connection with rates for corporate loans, derivatives contracts and many other financial deals around the world. Financial transactions tied to Libor are said to be worth an estimated 360 trillion dollars globally.
　企業向け融資や金融派生商品などの指標に幅広く使われ、これらの金融取引の規模は、世界で約３６０兆ドルに上るという。

Such an important benchmark rate has been revealed to have been distorted by false submissions from Barclays, one of Britain's top banking groups. Barclays has paid a huge fine over the irregularities, and its false reporting was a clear betrayal of investors' trust.
　それほど重要な基準金利が英大手バークレイズの虚偽申告で歪(ゆが)められていた。バークレイズは巨額の罰金を支払ったが、投資家の信頼を裏切る背信行為である。

The wrongdoing is said to have been conducted from 2005 to 2009.
　不正は２００５～０９年にかけて行われた。

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Not altered single-handedly

It seems the bank initially submitted artificially high rates to manipulate Libor levels upward to shore up its own profits.
当初は金利を高めに申告してＬＩＢＯＲを高く誘導し、利益を稼いだようだ。

But from around 2008, Barclays submitted deliberately low rates, in the midst of the 2007-2009 financial crisis marked by the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers. The manipulation was apparently a bid to bolster its bottom line by giving the impression that the bank could borrow money more cheaply and was thus healthier than it really was, so as to maintain its credibility even while being shaken by the crisis.
リーマン・ショックの０８年前後からは、逆に低い金利を申告し、危機で揺らぐ自行の信用維持を狙ったらしい。

No one banking institution can single-handedly alter the calculations behind the Libor rate. There have been suspicions that banks other than Barclays may have conspired to rig Libor submissions. Suspicion has also arisen that an executive of the Bank of England, Britain's central bank, may have pressured Barclays to engage in the rate manipulation.
　だが、単独ではＬＩＢＯＲを操作しにくい。他行も談合していた疑いがある。英中央銀行幹部がバークレイズに不正操作を促していたとの疑惑も浮上している。

Under the circumstances, it is only natural that Britain's financial regulatory authorities have embarked on full-scale investigations into the matter, questioning a number of U.S. and European financial institutions. The regulatory authorities should plunge their investigative scalpel into the dark side of the financial world.
　英金融監督当局が、複数の欧米金融機関の本格調査に乗り出したのは当然だ。金融界の暗部にメスを入れるべきだ。

The conduct of not only British regulators but also of financial regulatory authorities of the United States has been brought into question.
　英国だけでなく、米国の金融当局の姿勢も問われている。

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, while heading the New York Federal Reserve Bank in 2008, obtained information concerning Libor manipulation and offered the head of Britain's central bank a proposal on how to "eliminate the incentive to misreport." Authorities in both Britain and the United States, however, eventually left the problem unaddressed. Their response to the problem was inadequate.
　ガイトナー米財務長官はニューヨーク連邦準備銀行総裁だった０８年に問題を把握し、英中央銀行総裁に改善策を提言した。だが、英米当局とも結局は放置した。対応は不適切だったのではないか。

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Collective suits looming

Taking such things into account, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in testimony to a U.S. congressional committee earlier this week, stated the Libor system should be considered "structurally flawed."
　こうした経緯を踏まえ、米連邦準備制度理事会（ＦＲＢ）のバーナンキ議長は今週、米議会公聴会で、「ＬＩＢＯＲには構造的な欠陥がある」と述べた。

To ascertain whether submissions by banks are proper, stronger supervision is a must.
　銀行各行の申告が正しいかどうか、監査の強化は不可欠だ。

Steps that must urgently be taken include increasing the number of banks making Libor submissions to enhance the transparency and trustworthiness of the critical benchmark.
金利を提示する銀行数を増やすなど、ＬＩＢＯＲの透明性と信頼性を高める改革が急務である。

It is possible that false Libor reports by banks other than Barclays may be exposed and collective lawsuits may be filed by investors and others over losses they suffered because of the Libor manipulation. We hope that market upheaval due to the scandal can be prevented from spreading.
　今後、他行の不正が発覚したり、不利益を被ったという投資家などが金融機関に集団訴訟を起こしたりする可能性もある。市場の動揺が拡大しないよう望みたい。

For Japan, this is no fire on the other side of the river.
　日本にとっても対岸の火事ではない。

The Japanese Bankers Association has decided to beef up its inspections of submissions from banks for the Tokyo Interbank Offered Rate, or Tibor, which has become known as the Japanese version of Libor.
日本版ＬＩＢＯＲとして、公表している東京銀行間取引金利（ＴＩＢＯＲ）について、全国銀行協会が点検を強化する方針を決めた。

Ceaseless efforts by the association and its member banks are essential for dispelling investors' mistrust over the benchmark rates.
投資家の不信を払拭する不断の努力が欠かせない。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 21, 2012)
（2012年7月21日01時20分 読売新聞）