Bank of England's Shafik calls for further crack-down on banks

Bank of England Deputy Governor Minouche Shafik has called for stricter rules on banks following a raft of fines for rigging the benchmark interest rates.

Shafik said that more changes may be needed to stop a repeat of the "outrageous" behaviour that saw lenders fined $6bn for rate manipulation.

She said action is needed to halt the "anything goes" attitude of traders uncovered in recent enforcement cases.

Commodity, bond and currency wholesale markets were for many years run on a caveat emptor, or 'buyer beware', basis as the big banks were the main participants that were trusted to be left to their own devices.

However, Libor-rigging and foreign exchange manipulation has led to a review into the market.

Shafik said it seems there were “deep-rooted problems in the nature of FICC (fixed income, currency and commodities) markets that resulted in practices that would be unacceptable elsewhere”.