Tullett Prebon slumps 6% on Libor link

Tullett Prebon, the broker firm headed by Terry Smith, is the latest firm to be implicated in the Libor scandal after an individual at the company was allegedly involved in conversations about rate-rigging, according to reports.

The broker is anonymously referred to in documents published by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in connection with rate-rigging settlements with the Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS, the Financial Times reports.

At 3pm shares in Tullett were down 6.2% at 282p as the market absorbed the speculation.

At the end of last year, chief executive of the firm Terry Smith told the Guardian: ‘At the time I was astonished that no one thought those involved in Libor manipulation could be prosecuted without new and specific legislation.

‘It is a modern illusion that an act cannot be prosecuted as a crime just because there is not a specific piece of legislation which proscribes it. We have some perfectly good laws, they just need to be applied.’

Tullett Prebon said in a statement: ‘Tullett Prebon has never been informed by the FSA or any other regulatory authority that Tullett Prebon or any of its brokers are under investigation in relation to Libor.’

Last week, RBS was fined £390 million by regulators in relation to the rate-rigging, after UBS had to fork out $1.5 billion at the end of last year.