After the Libor case, the shadow of a new scandal is looming over European finance. This time it's center stage the Euribor, an English acronym which stands for "Euro inter bank offered rate". According to what was reported today on the website of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, the Paphos, or the German authority that controls the financial sector, has opened a "special investigation" (a more severe measure than the routine investigations) against four banks active in Germany. The suspicion is that in the past they have manipulated the rate trend for speculative purposes.
Among the institutes targeted by federal controllers, the names of stand out Portigon, heir to WestLB, and above all to the colossus Deutsche Bank, already subjected to a special investigation by Bafin on charges of having contributed to altering the course of the Libor, the other reference rate of the interbank market.
The latest provision follows the request for information made by the German Authority towards all the institutions in the country that participate in the definition of the Euribor, or the average interest rate of financial transactions in euro among the main European banks. Calculated daily, the Euribor is also often used as the base rate for calculating variable interest on consumer credit, such as that applied to mortgages (real estate and non-real estate), loans, derivatives and dozens of other financial instruments.
However, the arrival from Germany is not the first alarm bell. At the beginning of December, the European Commission had confirmed the launch of an investigation into the procedures by which the Euribor is calculated. According to the Wall Street Journali, of the approximately 40 institutions involved in determining the rate (and organized in the EBF, the European Banking Federation), at least a dozen are already under investigation by Brussels. The searches even began in October 2011, when for the first time the twin scandal linked to Libor came to light. According to the American newspaper, Barclays he would have already admitted his responsibilities and in the manipulation of the rate they would be involved – in addition to Deutsche Bank – too Crédit Agricole, Société Générale e Hsbc.
In mid-November last year, the European Central Bank had called for a radical change in the way the eurozone rate is set, arguing that "in the short term, the goal should be to improve governance, as well as offer a clear timetable for improving both regulation and oversight of the Euribor”. In the longer term, however, according to the Eurotower "it will be important to improve the calculation of the interest rate based on actual transactions". The ECB had also proposed that the EBA, the European Banking Authority, supervise the Euribor.
Subsequently, between 2012 and 2013, several institutions abandoned the group that provides for the formation of the index. The farewell came in sequence from Citigroup, DekaBank, Bayerische Landesbank, Rabobank, Raiffeisen Bank International and Erste group bank. Four Italian banks remain in the control room of the Euribor: Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit, Ubi and also the Monte dei Paschi di Siena. Which, however, at the moment, it has else to think about.
