The makers of the most important interest rate benchmark criticize courts after the failed appeal of convicted interest rate setter Tom Hayes

The makers of an important interest rate benchmark have criticized courts after a failed appeal by convicted interest rate setter Tom Hayes.

The Euribor steering group repeatedly accused judges of ignoring the ‘meaning and intention’ of rules they drew up.

It accused them of a “profound misunderstanding” over their interest rate, which tracks what European banks pay to borrow cash from each other.

The intervention comes as Hayes continues to fight for justice after being convicted in 2015 of manipulating the London-based equivalent, Libor.

Last month, the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction of Hayes and fellow trader Carlo Palombo.

Hayes was sentenced to fourteen years in prison, reduced to eleven years on appeal, and served half his sentence.

But Euribor’s founders have argued that some of the arguments put forward by the Court of Appeal judges in the case about the benchmark’s code were “misguided and incorrect”.