Brevan Howard Sought LIBOR Rate Change Says Ex-RBS Trader

Brevan Howard is the fund co-founded by Alan Howard, ex-head of proprietary trading at Credit Suisse First Boston, and Jean-Philippe Blochet in 2002. The fund ranked fifth in Institutional Investor’s Hedge Fund 100 in 2011 by employing a strategy focused on what it calls “asymmetrical outcomes” – philosophy it uses on all of its investments, from interest rates to currency, equities to commodity price movements. The fund focuses on making risk-averse investments based on macro events – but some risks, you just can’t prepare for. In this case, the issue, allegedly, is that the hedge fund asked the Royal Bank of Scotland PLC (RBS) to change the Libor rate, or at least that is what a former trader for RBS said in court documents filed as part of a wrongful dismissal suit reports Reuters.”Tan Chi Min, who was head of delta trading for RBS and based in Singapore, said in papers in a wrongful dismissal case that the fund telephoned the bank on August 20, 2007 and asked if they could change the bank’s submission.” RBS said in March that several of its staff were being investigated as to whether they tried to influence LIBOR lending rates. The fund is not named in the suit nor is it accused of any wrongdoing.