Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Could Canada's interest rates be manipulated?

OTTAWA -- Canada's financial-industry regulator is examining if an interest-rate rigging scandal that has rocked global banks could happen here.

The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada said Friday it is not aware of problems, but is launching a review of Canadian practices in light of the interest-rate fixing scandal engulfing European and U.S. banks related to a wholesale lending rate known as LIBOR. Little-known outside the financial industry, LIBOR is short for the London inter-bank offered rate and provides a benchmark for trillions of dollars in contracts around the world, including mortgages.

IIROC is reviewing LIBOR's Canadian equivalent CDOR -- the Canadian dealer offered rate set at 10 a.m. each business day after a survey of nine market-makers.

It measures what banks would charge their best corporate customers for syndicated loans, and would have little bearing on consumer loans such as mortgages, analysts said.

"While we are not aware of concerns at this time with the setting of CDOR, recent experiences with LIBOR point to a need for increased scrutiny of such survey-based reference rates and IIROC is conducting a review of current practices among CDOR survey participants," said Lucy Becker, IIROC vice-president for public affairs.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 14, 2012 B8

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