Defaulting banks - where will it stop?

[David Guyatt]

"Conspiracy" and "Conspiracy to defraud" others always used to be criminal offences, which if proved would result in prison time.

Oops!

Silly me. They still are criminal offences -- it's just that no one is applying the law these days.

A slap in the wallet of bank shareholders - who coincidentally had little or nothing to do with the criminality - is considered a fair punishment.

Dixon of Dock Green would turn in his grave...

[quote]

Banks braced for EU rate-fixing fines; Tesco sales slide - business live

LIVEBrussels officials are poised to announce new fines against banks for conspiring to manipulate benchmark interest rates.

• 
  
• • Graeme Wearden
    
  • theguardian.com, Wednesday 4 December 2013 08.46 GMT
    

7.50am GMT
Rate-rigging fines loom for banks

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of events across the financial markets, the world economy, the eurozone and the business world.
The banking sector is preparing face the music, again, over the global interest rate rigging scandal.
The European Union is putting the finishing touches to big fines and charges involving as many as 10 leading financial institutions.
Each company is accused of conspiring to fix the rates at which banks would lend to each other, either in euros (the Euribor rate) or yen (yenLibor, priced in London), or both. Brussels has also been probing the Tokyo rate known as Tibor.
With the FT reckoning that banks could be fined a total of €800m for Euribor rigging, and again for yen, the total could break the previous record for anti-trust penalties of €1.5bn.
Rumours from Brussels are that not every bank has reached a deal with the EU -- so we're likely to see a mixture of settlements and formal charges.
An announcement from Joaquín Almunia, EU competition commissioner, is expected this morning, although all sides have been keeping quiet on the precise timing....
More details to follow...