Barclays (NYSE:
BCS
) Chairman Marcus Agius has resigned his position on Monday in
the middle of the bank's rate-fixing scandal.
Agius stepped up and said that "the buck stops with me,"
before quitting his job and saying that the scandal has dealt a
"devastating blow," to the reputation of the bank.
According to
Reuters
, the news does not take any pressure off CEO Bob Diamond.
British Labour Party politician John Mann says that Diamond,
"must resign. He's got to go. There is no role for people like
him if banking is to be trusted again in this country and if
British banking is to restore its tarnished reputation in the
world, which of course is of great importance to our
economy."
Last Thursday, the
Associated Press
reported that Barclays had been fined $453 million for rate
fixing after emails were made public showing very clearly that
Barclays staff knew that they were doing wrong.
The bank was fined for manipulating the London Interbank
Offered Rate (LIBOR) between 2005 and 2009. The AP says that the
Libor, "is calculated daily by the British Bankers' Association,
based on lending rate figures submitted by global banks."
However, some members of Barclays staff adjusted those figures to
boost profits.
The AP reports that one trader wrote, "As always, any help wd
be greatly appreciated."
"I am going 90 altho 91 is what I should be posting," came the
reply.
The trader responded: "When I retire and write a book about
this business your name will be written in golden letters."
"I would prefer this not be in any book!" came the answer.
While understandable, the email author's desire for privacy
turned out to be remarkably naïve as the email is now shared
around the world. Even Prime Minister David Cameron spoke out to
say that the situation is "extremely serious".
Whether Diamond keeps his job or not remains to be seen. For
his part, Agius released a statement saying, "Last week's events
- evidencing as they do unacceptable standards of behavior within
the bank - have dealt a devastating blow to Barclays
reputation... The buck stops with me, and I must acknowledge
responsibility by standing aside. I am truly sorry that our
customers, clients, employees and shareholders have been let
down."
On Monday morning, Barclays traded at about $10.30, down
roughly 5 percent.
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