By Helen Power and Rob Davies
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The interest rate-rigging crisis deepened yesterday when it emerged regulators are considering bringing criminal charges against rogue traders at Barclays.
The possibility of a Serious Fraud Office probe into Barclays staff was raised by Chancellor George Osborne in Parliament yesterday morning.
Any investigation could be brought alongside parallel civil cases against Barclays, which it is understood are being considered by the Financial Services Authority. The regulator has the power to fine traders as well as to ban them from the City for life.

Division of the spoils: A Barclays Capital trader on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange
Last night it emerged Barclays shareholders are seeking a meeting with Sir Michael Rake, the senior independent director, in a move suggesting some investors want the head of chairman Marcus Agius.
In a letter sent to Andrew Tyrie, chair of the Treasury Select Committee, chief executive Bob Diamond, who personally built up Barclays Capital, the division of the bank where the rogue traders are based, made no mention of the possibility either he or Agius might fall on their swords.
Tyrie is trying to convene a series of hearings so the committee can grill Diamond, former chief executive John Varley, and the non-executives, as well as the British Bankersâ Association and the Financial Services Authority.
Shares in Barclays plunged by 15.53 per cent, or 30.45p, to close at 165.6p as politicians lined up to criticise the bank and its executives.
Having agreed the fine, the bank is also facing a wave of lawsuits from customers and investors.
Osborne told Parliament yesterday he will he look at ways of ensuring the record-breaking £59.5million fine due to the FSA will be returned to the taxpayer instead of being used to fund the banking industry, which is the current practice with fines paid to the regulator.
Banking analyst Sandy Chen of Cenkos Securities believes the industry as a whole will have to set aside billions of pounds to cover possible damages awarded as a result of class action lawsuits.
Around a dozen banks, including HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds, UBS and Citigroup are being investigated by US Department of Justice and the FSA with the probe expected to widen to take in nearly all of the 16 banks who set the sterling LIBOR rate.
Investec Banking analyst Ian Gordon said: âI think it would be quite wrong to think of it as purely a Barclays issue. I think in the course of the next few months and years weâll see a significant number of other banks implicated.â
The FSA and SFO are thought to be considering the possibility of further actions against individual staff at other banks should sufficient evidence arise. RBS, Lloyds and UBS have all sacked or suspended staff they believe were implicated in price-rigging.
But Gordon said the SFO and FSA are unlikely to be able to win any cases against individuals.
âThe burden of proof is challenging, the quantification of losses will be challenging and the apportioning of blame will be challenging beyond belief.â
Although the price-rigging probe originated in America, some in the City believe the scandal will cast a pall over Londonâs reputation as a well-regulated financial centre.
Justin Urquhart Stewart at Seven Investment Management said: âWeâre the most international centre in the world and people use us because they trust us and weâre seen to have integrity. Something like this, where regulators have not been on the ball, is a serious shortfall. In Europe theyâll be saying this is the fault of the Anglo Saxon model.â
David Cameron said Barclays executives had âserious questions to answerâ, as David Paterson, head of corporate governance at the National Association of Pension Funds, which represents some of the Cityâs biggest institutional investors, added his voice.
âInstitutional investors like pension funds should be concerned about whether the commitment to improved risk controls has any real meaning. Shareholders should also ask why the Board was apparently unable to carry out its oversight duties effectively,â said Paterson.
âThis issue raises doubts about previous remuneration which need to be answered. Barclays should use its clawback rules to penalise those involved by recovering bonuses and pay.â
However, Gordon predicted Diamond, whose close links to Barclays Capital mean he is widely held to have been instrumental in informing the culture of the investment banking divisionâs culture, will ride out the storm.
âWithout trying to diminish the seriousness of whatâs going on, bankers are held in pretty low regard anyway. I donât regard it as inevitable that Bob goes,â he said.
The FSA will today publish the preliminary findings of its investigation into the miss-selling of interest rate products by banks.
Smaller business have told regulators they believe they have overpaid for complex products designed to help them hedge against interest rate movements.
A number of firms, including Guardian Care Homes, have brought lawsuits against Barclays for miss-selling the products.
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I bet you can hear the paper shredders from outside the buildings.
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these bankers must be avoiding bridges and bricks like the plague i predict they will be banging on the doors of prison to let them in
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