A New and Improved Libor, Maybe

A New and Improved Libor, Maybe  |  British regulators finally have a plan for fixing Libor, but it remains to be seen whether it will work.

On Friday, Martin Wheatley, a top regulator in Britain, laid out a proposal for revamping the crucial interest rate at the center of a manipulation scandal. Not too many surprises. The British government plans to be more involved and make rate-rigging a criminal offense. Regulators may also cut the number of rates to 20 from 150, in an effort to make it more accurate.

Mr. Wheatley said in a statement: “Although the current system is broken, it is not beyond repair, and it is up to regulators and market participants to work together towards a lasting and sustainable solution.”

But is the benchmark too broken to fix? The New York Times's Floyd Norris says the plan sounds overly optimistic: “Libor is, and is likely to remain, a fiction.”

The editors of Bloomberg View, who call the proposals “respectable,” lament that “Wheatley stopped short of one measure that would have greatly improved transparency: requiring banks to report actual borrowing transactions, against which the public could check the veracity of the estimates that banks submit.”

That could be tough with Libor. A Wall Street Journal analysis found that “18 banks on the main U.S.-dollar Libor panel left their daily estimated rates unchanged on average 87% of the time.”

Even Mr. Wheatley admitted on Friday that there could still be problems. “There's always a possibility for collusion,” he told an audience at Mansion House. “But under the new regulatory structure, people would be taking a high risk.”

Greece Hunts for Cash  |  The Greek government is on an overseas tr easure hunt. The country's officials are poring over a secret list of about 400 Greeks who have done real estate deals in London since 2009 to determine whether the businessmen, bankers, shipping tycoons and others have dodged taxes by understating their wealth. Landon Thomas Jr. of The New York Times writes: “There is an air of desperation to this Athens fund-raising drive, which includes leasing out empty Greek islands and even putting up for sale the former residence of the Greek consul general in the tony London neighborhood of Holland Park.”

But such strategies won't fill the coffers. Against the backdrop of violent protests in Athens, the government hammered out a proposal on Thursday to offer to foreign lenders on Monday. The plan includes $15 billion in cuts and at least $2.6 billion in new taxes, The New York Times reports. There's more austerity for Spain, too. A new budget proposal calls for the government to cut spending by almost 9 percent.

Heineken Nabs Tiger  |  The Dutch brewer Heineken finally claimed victory in its effort to buy Asia Pacific Breweries for $4.6 billion, following a two-month battle with a Thai billionaire. Shareholders of Fraser & Neave, the Singaporean conglomerate that owns Asia Pacific Breweries, voted Friday to approve the sale.

Geithner Pushes for New Rules on Money Funds  |  Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner called for the Financial Stability Oversight Council to push ahead on new rules for the $2.6 trillion market, calling them “essential for financial stability,” reports DealBook's Peter Eavis. Mr. Geithner is also drawing up his own recommendations, including a proposal to have money market funds hold capital for potential losses. “You can be sure that the firms on the receiving end won't take this pa ssively,” said Jay G. Baris, a lawyer at Morrison & Foerster, which represents money market funds.

On the Agenda  |  The chief executive of Research in Motion, Thorsten Heins, is appearing on CNBC at 8 a.m., after the company reported a quarterly loss that was smaller than expected. Investors, who are starved for any shred of good news, sent the stock price higher in trading after hours, but analysts said the future remains grim for the BlackBerry maker. The prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, is on CNBC at 3:40. Qatar's sovereign wealth fund has been a vocal player in the wrangling over Glencore's takeover of Xstrata, which faces a Monday deadline to decide on a sweetened offer.

Walgreen's quarterly earnings are due at 7:30 a.m. The pharmacy chain's fight with Express Scripts is expected to weigh on the results.

Soros Backs Pro-Obama Super PAC  |  George Soros is departing from an earlier strategy by commiting $1 million to Priorities USA Action, the super PAC supporting President Obama, two people with knowledge of the matter told The New York Times's Nicholas Confessore. The billionaire's donations had previously been focused more on research and grass-roots organizing. But Mr. Soros now seems to have gotten over his aversion to the powerful groups focused on advertising, with an additional donation of $500,000 to two super PACs backing Congressional Democrats, Mr. Confessore says.

Gundlach Gets His Art Back  |  “It's a great day for the art world,” said the bond investor Jeffrey Gundlach, after the police, acting on a tip, recovered the art collection that was stolen from his Santa Monica home. All but one of th e stolen paintings were found in an automobile stereo shop, and the final piece was recovered from someone's home, according to The Los Angeles Times. Mr. Gundlach's Porsche, though, is still missing.