Banker accused of “greed” and “dishonesty on an enormous scale”

A former city trader has been accused of being “greedy” and “dishonest” for his alleged manipulation of Libor interest rates.

Former UBS and Citigroup trader Tom Hayes, 35, was arrested in June 2013 and is on trial on eight counts of conspiracy to defraud between 2006 and 2010.

Hayes is accused of being the “ringmaster” of a group of traders that manipulated the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), an interest rate used by banks around the globe to set the price of financial products.

Libor currently underpins approximately $350 trillion (£227 trillion) in financial derivatives.

Mukul Chawla QC, acting for the prosecution, said:

“This case is about the dishonest rigging of bank rates for profit.

“The motive was a simple one: it was greed”

The jury at Southwark Crown Court heard how Hayes “tried to rig” the rates at other banks by approaching and colluding with employees at other banks, and lying about the rates at which his bank borrowed money, impacting the calculation of Libor.

Hayes denies all the charges.

More than $9bn (£5.8bn) in fines have been levied on the banks over their rigging of the Libor rate, with 100 people fired or suspended and 21 people charged for criminal offences, of which Hayes is the first to face trial.

The method for how Libor is calculated has been changed in the wake of the scandal, and the rate is now administered by NYSE Euronext.