Creators of key interest rate benchmark criticise courts after failed appeal by convicted rate-rigger Tom Hayes

The creators of a key interest rate benchmark have criticised courts after a failed appeal by convicted rate-rigger Tom Hayes.

The steering committee for Euribor accused judges of repeatedly ignoring the ‘meaning and intention’ of rules they drew up.

It accused them of a ‘deep misunderstanding’ of their rate, which tracks what European banks pay to borrow cash from each other.

The intervention comes as Hayes continues to fight for justice after he was convicted in 2015 for rigging the London-based equivalent, Libor. 

Last month the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction of Hayes and fellow trader Carlo Palombo. 

Hayes was jailed for 14 years, reduced to 11 on appeal, and served half his sentence.

But the Euribor founders have argued some of the arguments put forward about the code of the benchmark by the Court of Appeal judges in the case were ‘misguided and incorrect’.