Barclays Plc, which paid about $450 million as the first bank tosettle in a worldwide probe of interest-rate rigging, saidbenchmarks should be tied to actual market transactions and notestimates.

Overseers of financial benchmarks should have limited or nodiscretion to set levels, Barclays said in a letter releasedyesterday by the International Organization of SecuritiesCommissions. The letter, dated Feb. 11, was a response to IOSCO'sJanuary request for comments on possible measures to overhaul thesetting and governance of such benchmarks.

“Reporting transactions or tradeable prices available to themarket would serve to reduce conflicts, especially as trades arealready subject to a clear and robust regulatory framework,”Francois Jourdain, a Barclays managing director, wrote on behalf ofthe U.K.'s second-biggest bank by value.