The London interbank offered rate, the rate banks charge each other for short-term loans, soared in recent weeks despite central bank injections of hundreds of billions into the system.

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An exception is made for short-term loans to other parts of the corporation.

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Supervisors on both sides of the Atlantic concluded that the bank's heavy reliance on wholesale markets (very short-term loans from companies and other banks) left it especially vulnerable to running out of money when confidence collapsed.

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But the funds rate covers all loans that banks make to each other on a short-term basis.

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Other special situation players would be hedge funds playing the carry trade game where they buy these Treasuries with short-term loans at 25 basis points.

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The other three trade bodies that agreed to the new charter are the BCCA, a trade association for lenders offering short-term loans, the Consumer Credit Trade Association and the Finance and Leasing Association.

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Takefuji and competitors like Aiful and Acom charged them interest rates as high as 29.2% on short-term loans until the maximum rate was lowered to 20% earlier this year, among other limits imposed over the past four years.

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Like many governments across Europe that have been scarred by the bond market turmoil that forced Greece and four other countries to need rescue loans, Britain is focusing on reducing debt quickly, even at the cost of short-term economic pain.

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