STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: NPR's business news starts with a warning about LIBOR.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: It came years ago. We now know that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner pointed out problems with the way that London's key interest rates were set. He did this in 2008, in the midst of the financial crisis at the time he was head of the New York Federal Reserve.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: In a memo to the Bank of England obtained by several news organizations, Geithner suggested ways to enhance the integrity of the LIBOR. That's the London Interbank Offered Rate, which is now the center of a scandal.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Geithner was apparently worried after hearing banks were misrepresenting the benchmark.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Last month, Barclays agreed to pay U.S. and U.K. authorities $450 million to settle charges that the bank manipulated that rate.
We now know that U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner pointed out problems with the way London's key interest rates were set. He did this in 2008, in the midst of the financial crisis. At the time, Geithner was the head of the New York Federal Reserve. Barclays has agreed to pay U.S. and U.K. to settle charges the bank manipulated that interest rate.