LIBOR will at last be switched off in June

Like slide rules and martini lunches, the London interbank offered rate (libor) was once a fine idea. In 1969 Iran’s central bank was looking for an $80m loan—at the time a hefty ticket for a high-risk country without the foreign-exchange reserves to cover it. So Minos Zombanakis, their banker, clubbed together a syndicate of banks which would each lend some of the money. But what interest rate to charge? Inflation was rising and rates were volatile; no bank wanted to lend at a fixed rate in case that left them out of pocket.