Fresh charges in the UK Libor rigging probe may target traders linked to the benchmark’s euro counterpart, with prosecutors focusing efforts on that strand of the probe in recent weeks.

Tesco has reversed its decision to suspend more than £2m in severance payments to two former bosses as it seeks to avoid a costly legal battle over an accounting scandal that hit the supermarket last autumn.

The UK Serious Fraud Office sought an extra £19m (€23m) from the government to pay for “blockbuster” cases including a probe into manipulation of benchmark interest rates.

The length of time being taken on the Anglo Irish Bank investigation is deeply worrying. It is to be hoped that everything is being prepared properly to ensure that any prosecutions are warranted and, given the cost involved in the three-year investigation, then successful.