Barclays fine 'to help taxpayer'

Chancellor George Osborne has pledged to use fines imposed by the Financial Services Authority to compensate taxpayers in the wake of the LIBOR scandal.

Yesterday the FSA announced it will fine Barclays £59.5m after it discovered the bank had attempted to skew LIBOR and EURIBOR in order to favour its own traders' positions. In a statement to the House of Commons today, Osborne said the Treasury is speaking to the FSA about using the fine to help taxpayers who have suffered due to bank malpractice, rather than using the money to rebate other banks' levies. The Chancellor blamed the previous Labour government for failing to properly regulate the banks. Osborne has also confirmed RBS and HSBC are under investigation by the FSA, alongs...