New York Fed Probed Currency Benchmark Setting in 2012

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2012 examined how benchmark currency rates were calculated after accusations emerged that banks manipulated the London interbank offered rate.

“In light of the focus on reference rates in other markets, we sought to better understand the various reference rates commonly used in the FX market,” Andrea Priest, a spokeswoman for the New York Fed, said in an e-mailed statement. The New York Fed-sponsored Foreign Exchange Committee “undertook an effort to catalogue existing rates. This effort did not reflect concerns specific to the FX rate.”