QUICK REVIEW: Britain's financial regulator on Friday is looking for quick answers from the banking industry on the London interbank offered rate (LIBOR), the interest rate index that has been subject of a global scandal

THE REQUEST: Martin Wheatley, managing director of the Financial Services Authority, said Friday he wants industry responses by Sept. 7 on how LIBOR is regulated and calculated so that proposals can be included in legislation now pending in Parliament.

THE OUTLOOK: LIBOR, which has come under scrutiny since Barclays bank admitted manipulating rates, is determined by a self-policing system, whereby banks make a judgment of the rate at which they could borrow from other banks. The rate sets benchmarks for hundreds of trillions of dollars of contracts globally, including mortgages and commercial loans.