Osborne will announce the inquiry to the House of Commons later this afternoon, but will stop short of meeting the Labour party’s demands for a judge-led probe, according to the Financial Times.
The Serious Fraud Office, meanwhile, has said it hopes to decide “within a month” whether it is appropriate and possible to bring criminal prosecutions in relation to LIBOR fixing.
“The issues are complex and the assessment of the evidence the FSA has gathered will take a short time, but we hope to come to a conclusion within a month,” the SFO said in a statement.
“The SFO is aware of investigations in other jurisdictions and is working with the relevant authorities.”
The developments come on the day Barclays chairman Marcus Agius resigned as a result of the bank’s role in the scandal, saying the events evidenced “unacceptable standards of behaviour within the bank”.
Barclays was fined a total of £290m last week for its attempts to manipulate the London interbank offered rate, a benchmark for financial instruments around the globe.
