UK regulators 'in denial' over Libor rigging, MPs claim Members of the Treasury Select Committee (TSC) also claimed the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) had been "asleep" in letting Barclays promote Jerry del Missier to chief operating officer last month, after establishing he had instructed colleagues to fix the key inter-bank lending rate. The criticisms came as Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, warned that banks" "unacceptable behaviour" was "undermining public confidence in financial markets" and applauded the "quick" response of the Federal Bank of New York, which first uncovered evidence of rigging in back in 2008. According to documents seen by committee member John Mann MP, US regulators were dismayed by the UK response to the scandal. He quoted a Federal Reserve employee, also in 2008, saying: "US confidence in the London market was being severely shaken... by the slow reaction time of the London authorities. They had to be continuously prodded by us. After discovering evidence that Barclays was rigging Libor in April 2008, the New York Fed escalated it up to the US Treasury. The following month, it asked the Bank to improve Libor practices "to prevent deliberate misreporting." Asked by Michael Fallon MP whether "deliberate misreporting" qualified as "dishonesty," Paul Tucker, the Bank's deputy governor, conceded: "With hindsight, yes. But it did not set alarm bells ringing at the time... I didn't address my mind to it. Pat McFadden MP said: "The American authorities all the way along have been more worried [about rigging] and more active in pursuing it than in the UK." Sir Mervyn, who claimed to have only found two weeks ago that rogue traders had been manipulating rates, said it had not been the Bank's job to regulate - passing the buck to the FSA. He added: "Neither the Fed nor anyone sent us any evidence of misreporting." Asked about the FSA's decision to let Barclays promote Mr del Missier, Lord Turner said his colleague Andrew Bailey "did not feel he could stop it, but had doubts about it." Andrea Leadsom MP said: "Do you accept that the FSA was asleep in allowing his appointment?"