Stock exchange owner takes over control of Libor for £1

The US owner of the New York Stock Exchange will take over the running of Libor, the benchmark interest rate at the centre of a global rigging scandal, wresting control from a British bankers’ trade body for a token £1 (€1.16).

An important cog in the world financial system, Libor rates are benchmarks for some $550 trillion in contracts from complex derivatives to credit card bills.

Libor’s credibility was destroyed by revelations traders had routinely manipulated them to their own advantage.