Historical Libor USD

From LoveToKnow Mortgage

If you are looking for the historical Libor USD, you are looking for the Libor rates which reflect the interest rates for inter-bank lending of United States Dollars in the London financial market.

The historical Libor interest rates are easy to research.

Determining the Libor Rates

The Libor interest rates are determined each London business day by the British Bankers' Association (BBA) as a composite of at least eight major banks in London. The banks are selected to represent a broad spectrum of banking institutions. Particular care is given to select banks with high credit ratings, active lending programs and expertise in the currency in which they specialize.

London is a key source of international bank lending with more than 20 percent of all international bank lending taking place through London bank offices. Additionally, over 30 percent of all foreign currency exchange transactions are conducted through London banking offices.

The BBA gathers the rates for a variety of loan terms and currencies. They disregard the highest and lowest rates and average the middle rates to produce the current Libor interest rate for a specific loan term in a specific currency.

Currencies of the Libor Rates

The Libor rates are published in ten currencies:

Pound Sterling
United States Dollar
Japanese Yen
Swiss Franc
Canadian Dollar
Australian Dollar
Euro
Danish Kroner
Swedish Krona
New Zealand Dollar

The Libor rates for each currency are set independently for each currency. The rates are not set in one currency and then established in other currencies by applying currency exchange rates.

Here's how it works: The BBA asks Banks A, D, Q and R who all lend in United States Dollars what they would charge Bank B to borrow funds in United States Dollars for a specific term (such a 6-month loan). The highest and lowest interest rates of Banks A, D, Q and R are disregarded and the remaining rates are averaged to determine the 6-month Libor Rate in USD.

To get the 6-month Libor Eurodollar rate at these same banks, the BBA would ask these banks what they would charge Bank B to borrow funds in Eurodollars for six months. The highest and lowest interest rates of Banks A, D, Q and R would be disregarded and the remaining rates would be averaged to determine the 6-month Libor Rate in Eurodollars.

Sources of Historical Libor USD Rates

Generally, any source of historical Libor rates will include the historical Libor USD rates. The rates of all currencies are usually shown in chart format. There are many good sources for historical Libor rates. They all show the same rates, with the main differences between the websites being their format. Here are some easy-to-use website sources:

British Banking Association – The BBA website includes historical Libor rates back to January 1986 for United States Dollars as well as nine other international currencies. The rates are published online as Excel files.
EconStats – This website provides Libor rates in United States Dollars as well as many other foreign currencies.
Bloomberg.com – This website compares various key rates in a variety of time frames including current rates as well as rates from 1,3, 6 and 12 months prior. The 1-month and 3-month Libor rates are shown in the same chart as the Prime Rate and the Federal Reserve Target Rate.