Chancellor George Osborne has pledged to extend legislation introduced last year tackle the Libor interest rate-fixing scandal.

In his annual Mansion House speech Osborne (pictured) announced a crackdown on banks and traders.

He said: ‘I am going to deal with abuses, tackle the unacceptable behaviour of the few and ensure that markets are fair for the many who depend on them. Markets here set the interest rates for people’s mortgages, the exchange rates for our exports and holidays, and the commodity prices for the goods we buy.’

On 2 April 2013 Libor rate-setting became a regulated activity through the introduction of secondary legislation amending the Regulated Activities Order under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. 

Plans to extend the legislation were laid out in a joint review by the Treasury, Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in its Fair and Effective Markets Review.

The document pledges ‘to cover further benchmarks in the foreign exchange, fixed-income and commodity markets’ along with ‘new criminal sanctions within the legislation'.

The government will consult on these steps in the autumn, with the full review running for 12 months.