Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued this statement following testimony from former trader Thomas Hayes that UBS Group AG circulated “an instruction manual on fixing Libor”:

“The latest revelation at the trial in London of a Libor trader is symbolic of the lawless culture at some of the biggest banks in the world. UBS executives were apparently so unafraid of being caught or held accountable that they brazenly circulated a how-to manual for manipulating the Libor rate, which likely ripped off millions of individuals and companies worldwide. This scandal goes far beyond the isolated actions of a few traders.

“The evidence introduced at trial so far suggests that illegal conduct was corporate policy. There clearly was a massive, firm-wide failure of legal, risk, compliance, supervision and management. It’s clear these global behemoths are not just too-big-to-fail and too-big-to-jail, but also too-big-to-regulate and too-big-to-manage.”

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Better Markets is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that promotes the public interest in financial reform in the domestic and global capital and commodity markets. Better Markets advocates for transparency, oversight and accountability with the goal of a stronger, safer financial system that is less prone to crisis and failure thereby eliminating or minimizing the need for more taxpayer funded bailouts. To learn more, visit www.bettermarkets.com.