London Court to Overturn Convictions of Five Barclays Traders in Libor Case

The criminal convictions of five former Barclays traders over the manipulation of the Libor interest-rate benchmark and its euro equivalent, Euribor, are set to be overturned by the Court of Appeal in London.

The court is scheduled to formally hand down its decision at 2pm local time (1300 GMT) on Wednesday, following a legal challenge that comes after a landmark ruling by the UK Supreme Court in 2025.

The five traders, who worked for Barclays, were previously convicted in connection with the manipulation of benchmark interest rates. Their cases form part of a much wider investigation into the conduct of financial institutions and traders surrounding Libor and Euribor in the years before and after the 2008 global financial crisis.

Libor, short for the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate, was for decades one of the world’s most important financial benchmarks. It was used to help determine borrowing costs and was referenced in a wide range of financial products, including loans, mortgages, derivatives and other contracts.

Euribor served a similar role for euro-denominated financial markets.

The benchmarks were calculated using submissions from major banks intended to reflect the rates at which they could borrow from one another. Because of their importance to global financial markets, attempts to manipulate the rates became a major focus for regulators and law-enforcement authorities in several countries.

The alleged manipulation occurred during a period of significant turmoil in global financial markets. The 2008 financial crisis placed intense pressure on banks, financial institutions and traders, while concerns over the reliability of benchmark rates became increasingly prominent.

The Barclays traders’ convictions were part of criminal proceedings that followed years of investigations into the manipulation of the benchmarks.

The latest development follows a major 2025 Supreme Court ruling involving two other former traders. The Supreme Court overturned their convictions, creating an important precedent for the legal arguments surrounding the Libor cases.

Lawyers for the five former Barclays traders subsequently challenged their convictions, leading to the Court of Appeal proceedings.

The planned decision marks another significant development in one of the longest-running financial misconduct cases linked to the benchmark-rate scandal.

The Court of Appeal’s ruling will formally determine the status of the five convictions and follows years of legal proceedings arising from events that took place more than a decade ago.

The Libor scandal has had lasting consequences for the financial industry. Regulators around the world introduced tighter controls over benchmark-setting processes, while financial markets gradually moved away from Libor towards alternative reference rates considered more robust and less vulnerable to manipulation.

The case also highlighted the importance of benchmark rates in the global financial system and the potential consequences when traders or institutions attempt to influence them for financial advantage.

With the Court of Appeal expected to hand down its decision on Wednesday, the latest ruling could represent another major chapter in the long-running legal aftermath of the Libor manipulation scandal.