The parallels between the nickel-trading fiasco and the LIBOR scandal

IN “CASINO”, ALMELMELIBOR film from 1995, Joe Pesci plays Nicky Santoro, a violent gangster with a short fuse. Santoro has been losing heavily at blackjack. If the next card is a picture card, he will lose some more. The dealer turns the king of clubs. Santoro angrily flicks the card back and, in the saltiest language, orders the dealer to try again. A nervous floor manager nods his assent. The dealer turns the queen of hearts. Santoro grows angrier. The dealer tries again. The same sequence—picture card, profanity, fresh deal—is repeated, until Santoro has a winning hand.In real-life casinos, as in financial markets, you do not get another free go if your bets go awry. Nor do you get your money back—except, apparently, at the London Metal Exchange (). This week the buying and selling of nickel on the exchange is slowly getting back to normal. But the cancellation of some inconvenient trades prior to a two-week hiatus in active nickel trading has damaged the reputation of the and the standing of London as a financial centre. A parallel that springs to mind is —another London-branded benchmark that global finance lost faith in.