Commodity Futures Trading Commission ♦ Office of Public Affairs ♦ 202-418-5080

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Office of Public Affairs

Three Lafayette Centre

1155 21st Street, NW

Washington, DC 20581

www.cftc.gov

Examples of Barclays’ USD ISDAFIX Misconduct1

Barclays Instructs Broker to Buy Swap Spreads High in Attempt to Manipulate ISDAFIX to Be “as 

High as Possible”

 In 2008, a Barclays swaps trader, then a supervisor of multiple trading desks, told the Bank’s broker: “Okay, 

at eleven o’clock, we have an option settlement, okay, I have 200 10s of ammo . . . and I need to get the 

screen as high as possible.” 

 The swaps trader then instructed the broker to buy swap spreads at higher, rather than lower levels: “don’t 

let him hit me down at a quarter,” he told the broker, “I want at least a half middle,” referring to the higher 

USD ISDAFIX print he was seeking. 

 On this day, Barclays stood to receive more in cash settlements from its counterparties the higher the 10-

year USD ISDAFIX.

Barclays Submitter Instructed to Make False ISDAFIX Report in Attempt to Manipulate the Rate 

for Benefit of Barclays’ Options Desk

In 2007, a Barclays swaps trader explained to the Bank’s USD ISDAFIX submitter:

The options guys care where the 30-year is today, okay . . . So they want it lower . . . what you are going to 

do, just put in all the rates wherever . . . Put the 30-year rate at like five point four five five [5.455], okay? . . 

. They have options that expire and they depend on these rates and they get set at a certain level.

Multiple Barclays Desks Coordinate in Attempt to Manipulate ISDAFIX for Benefit of Barclays’ 

Options Desk

 In 2007, Barclays’ Options Desk in New York had a cash settlement on a 5-year swaption of $635 million 

notional. Barclays traders on multiple desks coordinated to employ three methods of manipulation in an 

attempt to maximize the amount paid to Barclays in the swaption cash settlement.

 First, at approximately 10:50 a.m., a Barclays swaps trader contacted the Bank’s broker on behalf of the 

Options Desk, and instructed the broker, “don’t let ‘em go down,” referring to 5-year swap spreads.

o As 11:00 a.m. approached, the swaps trader told the broker: “for the eleven o’clock fix I need to lift 

5s up,” “I want to keep it up,” and “[i]f it gets hit down, you hit it right back up, don’t let it go 

down.”

 

1 Unless otherwise indicated, all of the quotations in the ISDAFIX Order and these examples are drawn from audio 

recordings of trader and/or broker telephone lines.
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o The swaps trader then told the broker, “I can burn like, four, five hun-, four hundred [million 

notional].”

o After trading only $200 million of 5-year swap spreads, and withdrawing his offer seconds before 

11:00 a.m., he said to the broker: “We got it right? We got the fix, good job.”

 Second, in parallel, also in the minutes leading up to 11:00 a.m., a Barclays options trader emailed traders on 

Barclays’ U.S. Treasuries desk: “I have an exercise at 11am this morning, I will need to sell 635 5s, but I 

want to push the screens down at 11, as much as . . . you can, so that I can get a better 11 am print.”

o Pushing the 5-year U.S. Treasuries price down would increase the yield on those Treasuries and 

thereby increase the 5-year USD ISDAFIX.

 Lastly, another options trader emailed the USD ISDAFIX submitter at approximately 10:54 a.m., 

instructing, “We want higher 5s,” referring to the Bank’s 5-year USD ISDAFIX submission.

Barclays’ Swaps Desk Attempts to Manipulate ISDAFIX to Increase Opportunity to Profit from 

Intrabank Swap Trade Priced at ISDAFIX

 In 2010, Barclays’ Exotics Desk in London placed an order at approximately 9:14 a.m. which gave the 

Bank’s Swaps Desk in New York incentive to push up the 10-year USD ISDAFIX rate and push down the 

2-year USD ISDAFIX rate. At approximately 10:43 a.m., a Barclays swaps trader initiated the following 

conversation with the Bank’s broker, making certain first that no one was listening on the line:

Swaps Trader: Could you pick me up?

Broker: I got you picked up. 

Swaps Trader: Oh, okay. No one else is on the line, right?

Broker: No.

Swaps Trader: Alright, uh, I care about the elevens [11:00 a.m. fixings] okay.

Broker: Oh, great. What, okay, what do you wanna do and how much do you have 

to burn? 

Swaps Trader: Yeah, so no one’s on the line right?

Broker: No, not at all.

Swaps Trader: Alright, um. So, I’m gonna want, uh, 10s higher and 2s lower, okay? So –

Broker: Okay.

Swaps Trader: Um, just, your discretion, I care more about 10s, but would care about both 

of ’em. Um, and have, uh, like two hundred [million] 10s and five hundred 

[million] 2-year spreads to use, okay?

Broker: Okay fine, you got it.

 Closer to 11:00 a.m., the broker sought confirmation that the trader did not genuinely want to fill an order 

of $200 million notional: “you prefer not to burn the two hundred or any part of it, right?” The swaps 

trader agreed, “yeah.” The broker then traded on Barclays’ behalf in a manner consistent with the swaps 

trader’s instructions.

Barclays Times Trading in Attempt to Manipulate ISDAFIX While Minimizing “Ammunition” Spent

In 2012, a Barclays swaps trader and desk head expressed his desire to “get a low print,” but not “spend” any of his 

“ammunition”: 
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 “At 11 o’clock, I have to get low print in 10-year spreads,” the swaps trader said.

 He added: “when I say ‘hit it,’ right, you can spend, um, two hundred fifty [million] 10-years in ammunition. 

I really don’t want to spend it . . . but if you can keep it at 8 . . . it will be perfect.” 

 In the seconds before 11:00 a.m., the swaps trader instructed, “do it now,” at which time the broker yelled 

out: “10s down! 10s down!”

Barclays Instructs Broker to Trade in Attempt to Manipulate ISDAFIX to “Keep 10-Year Spreads 

Down”

 In 2011, at approximately 10:59 a.m., a Barclays swaps trader told the Bank’s broker that a Barclays options 

trader “wants to keep 10-year spreads down. So, if you can, we don’t have much ammo, like a hundred; 

don’t let it go up to 9, hit it down.” 

 The broker replied: “I hear you. I’m just gonna lock ’em down at 11.” 

 On this day, Barclays stood to receive more from its counterparties, in multiple cash settlements, with a 

lower 10-year USD ISDAFIX.

Multiple Traders on Barclays’ Swaps Desk Attempt to Manipulate ISDAFIX to Increase 

Opportunity to Profit from Intrabank Swap Trade Priced at ISDAFIX

In 2008, Barclays swaps traders attempted to push down the 10-year USD ISDAFIX rate and to push up the 2-year 

USD ISDAFIX rate, so that Barclays’ Swaps Desk in New York would pay lower rates and receive higher ones in a

trade with Barclays’ Exotics Desk in London. If successful, moving the USD ISDAFIX rates to the Swaps Desk’s 

advantage in this manner would move certain indices to the disadvantage of Barclays’ clients in trades facing the 

Exotics Desk. 

 About a half hour before 11:00 a.m., a Barclays swaps trader told one of the Bank’s brokers: “At eleven 

o’clock, I want the ISDAFIX in the 2s as high as possible. So I’m gonna come in at like five minutes to 

eleven and try and bang – move 2-years up.”

 “I know [another bank] is on the offer,” he added, “but I have a bit of ammo.”

 At approximately 10:57 a.m., another one of the Bank’s brokers told a second Barclays swaps trader (a 

supervisor of multiple trading desks) that 10-year swap spreads were 61.5 bid and 61.75 offered. The trader 

replied, “Listen, I’m going to try to hit ’em down to 61.” 

 The broker replied, “Oh, I don’t think you’re going to get there” and listed numerous buyers in the market. 

The Barclays trader then instructed the broker to “try and do as little as possible,” referring to the notional 

amount he was willing to spend to lower the 10-year spread. 

 When the broker suggested that the trader may have to spend more, the trader said that the broker could 

trade “up to” $250 million and should “just keep them, keep them fucking locked up.” 

 When the broker replied, “I don’t think two-fifty’s gonna hold it, quite honestly,” the trader replied, “okay, 

but all we need to do is hold it for ten seconds,” referring to the seconds before 11:00 a.m.

 Just after 11:00 a.m., the Barclays trader remarked to the broker, “we got it . . . . Yeah, you got it at sixty one 
Commodity Futures Trading Commission ♦ Office of Public Affairs ♦ 202-418-5080

and a quarter, at 11.” The broker replied, “Oh god, I hope so, let me come right back. Let me go find out 

what I sold.” 

 Later the same day, after the final rates were published, a third Barclays swaps trader, who had observed this 

trading activity by his colleagues, remarked to the broker who had received Barclays’ instructions as to the 2-

year tenor: “Yeah, you did well at the 11 o’clock fix, man,” and it “sounded like you were actually holding 

the spreads up with your hands; like, it felt like you were bench pressing them over your head.”