Britain is poised to hand over administration of the London interbank offered rate to the operator of the New York Stock Exchange as regulators try to revive confidence in the scandal-hit benchmark, Bloomberg News reported today. NYSE Euronext will replace the British Bankers’ Association, the lobby group that started the benchmark more than two decades ago, as Libor’s administrator, in early 2014. Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority began regulating Libor, the benchmark for more than $300 trillion of securities, in April as part of the overhaul. The New York-based purchaser already operates Liffe, Europe’s second-largest derivatives exchange, which offers derivatives based on Libor. A government review recommended last year that the BBA should be stripped of responsibility for Libor after regulators found banks had tried to manipulate it to profit from bets on derivatives.
