Bankers found guilty of "reckless misconduct" in Britain could end up in prison and be stripped of bonuses, under draconian proposals on Wednesday to clean up London's scandal-hit financial sector. The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, established by the government after the Libor rate-rigging scandal last year, made the recommendations in a final report that amounted to a blunt indictment of malpractice. The scandals have besmirched the old and worldwide reputation of the City of London and made some bankers the target of public anger.

Bankers found guilty of reckless misconduct in Britain could end up in prison and be stripped of bonuses, under draconian proposals to clean up the City of London published on Wednesday. The radical penalties were put forward by an official commission which said that a string of scandals in British finance had caused an "enormously damaging" loss of trust.

Britain's Serious Fraud Office on Tuesday said that former UBS trader Tom Hayes had become the first person to be charged in connection with its probe into the Libor rate-rigging scandal that has rocked the banking sector. "Tom Hayes, a former trader at UBS and Citigroup, has today been charged with offences of conspiracy to defraud in connection with the investigation by the Serious Fraud Office into the manipulation of Libor," it said in a statement, adding that its probe into Libor manipulation would continue.

British officials charged former UBS trader Tom Hayes on Tuesday, marking the first prosecution over the Libor rate-rigging scandal which rocked the banking sector last year with repercussions across the world. "Tom Hayes, a former trader at UBS and Citigroup, has today been charged with offences of conspiracy to defraud in connection with the investigation by the Serious Fraud Office into the manipulation of Libor," the SFO said in a statement.