The British Bankers' Association (BBA), the lobby group thatoversees Libor, proposed cutting the number of currencies andmaturities included in the benchmark within the next five monthsfollowing the rate-rigging scandal.

The lobby group plans to end quoting rates in Australian and NewZealand dollars at the end of February, and the Canadian dollar,Danish kroner and Swedish kronor rates the following month, theLondon-based BBA said in a statement today. The group also proposedto stop publishing “interim maturities” such as the two-week,two-month and nine-month tenors for all currencies by the end ofJanuary.

The announcement follows a regulator's review of the Londoninterbank offered rate after Barclays Plc was fined a record 290million pounds ($463 million) for rigging the benchmark. MartinWheatley, a managing director at the Financial Services Authority,recommended cutting the number of quoted rates to as few as 20 from150, because the lack of trades in some currencies and maturitiesmakes it almost impossible for the banks that contribute to therate to state their borrowing costs accurately.