Following a review of over 97,000 documents, 26 were judged to provide a direct reference to lowballing, or a reference that could have been interpreted as such. Of these, Barclays were involved in 13 and were subject to a record £59bn fine in July last year.
The Audit found that management at all levels were aware of severe dislocation in the Libor market from summer 2007 until early 2009, and there were a number of instances in which information available suggested the practice was occurring.
Despite this, the report concluded that there was no major regulatory failure on the scale of Northern Rock (March 2008) or Royal Bank of Scotland (December 2011).
FSA chairman, Adair Turner, said: “As the financial crisis developed in 2007 to 2008, the FSA’s bank supervisors were primarily focused on ensuring they understood the prudential implications of severe market dislocation. And the FSA had no formal regulatory responsibility for the Libor submission process.
"As a result, the FSA did not respond rapidly to clues that lowballing might be occurring. There are important lessons to be learnt about effective handling of information: these are identified in the Report and will be taken forward by both the FCA and PRA management.
