The process of collecting the LIBOR takes only two people. They collect
information from 16 different respected banks, and eliminate the four highest
and four lowest quotes. The borrowing costs for the remaining eight banks
are averaged into the LIBOR rates. Due to the immense size of the financial
instruments that rely on the LIBOR, safeguards have been taken to ensure
that the rate is quoted without fail. The two employees collecting the LIBOR
have dedicated phone lines in their homes, in case an emergency keeps
them from going to the London office.2 A backup office also exists in a “small
town 150 miles from London” (MacKenzie, 2008, p. 237). All these safeguards
are necessary to ensure that the most important rate in the world is continuously quoted.