Libor casts shadow over swaps ball The date is in their diaries already. On Friday, October 5, derivatives traders from investment banks across Europe will gather at the Dorchester Hotel on London's Park Lane for the annual "swaps ball." Traditionally, it is a night of revelry and charitable donation. The centrepiece of the evening is the post-dinner auctions that see traders bidding absurd amounts of money for an eclectic selection of luxury items - Mediterranean cruises, celebrity lunches and VIP tickets to rock concerts. Over the years, the testosterone and alcohol-fuelled bidding has helped raise £2.6m for cancer and sick children charities. But this year may be a little less upbeat. Over the past week, more detail has emerged about the alleged antics of a band of interest rate swaps traders from some of Europe's big banks, following Barclays" £290m settlement with regulators in the US and UK over attempted manipulation of benchmark borrowing rates - principally the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, in its various forms but also the continental European equivalent Euribor. The regulatory probes have shone a light on the tone of exchanges between traders within Barclays but also across different banks, as individuals appeared to co-ordinate attempted manipulation. Settlement documents published by the UK's Financial Services Authority last month revealed many email exchanges supporting their case. One of the most memorable, and now infamous, came only a couple of weeks after the 2006 swaps ball, on October 26, when Barclays" "trader G" received an email from an external trader: "Dude. I owe you big time! The network of exchanges beyond Barclays remains largely unclear, and more than 20 groups are still embroiled in regulators" inquiries, with the FSA declaring this week that seven are in its sights. Barclays" fate in the wake of its settlement - with chairman Marcus Agius, chief executive Bob Diamond and chief operating officer Jerry del Missier hounded from their jobs by policy makers - has deterred any other bank from considering a similar expedited settlement and suppressed for the time being any similar details emerging about the other banks involved. But this week, the Financial Times revealed another few links in the chain of attempted Euribor manipulation, reporting regulators" focus on four more banks - Crédit Agricole, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and Société Générale. Suspecting that Barclays" former euroswaps trader Philippe Moryoussef was the ringleader of attempts to manipulate Euribor, regulators are examining links with a number of traders at other banks including Michael Zrihen, formerly of Crédit Agricole, Didier Sander, formerly of HSBC, and Christian Bittar, formerly at Deutsche Bank. All of those whose names have emerged in connection with the investigation, and who have spoken to the FT, deny any wrongdoing or knowledge of wrongdoing. Some were surprised when the first details of the scale of the scandal emerged last month. But, as one former trader indicated, it is a close-knit community. The swaps ball [is attended by] all the traders from Paris, Frankfurt and London. He added it would be "very difficult" for regulators to prove any alleged collusion between them. With banks now reluctant to move fast and regulators still with plenty of email trawling to do, there is an expectation that it could take another two to three months before any substantial details emerge with the next settlement. But by the time this year's do at the Dorchester comes around, the slur on the industry could be even worse than it is today - hardly conducive to the usual rumbustious ball. Additional reporting by David Oakley