02/07/2012

Barclays Chairman Resigns Over Lending Scandal

The chairman of Barclays Bank has resigned over the lending rate fixing scandal which erupted last week.

Mr Agius released a statement saying: "The buck stops with me".

Barclays has been fined £290m ($450m) for attempting to manipulate the Libor inter-bank lending rate, a rate used to calculate short-term loans between banks in London.

Bob Diamond, who took on the role of chief executive last year, remains in post but has committed to not taking his 2012 bonus.

Barclays has promised a "root and branch review" and public report of the practices, which made the bank seem more financially healthy than it was, and said it will issue a new mandatory code of conduct for staff.

The investigation into banking practices between 2005 and 2009 has also been extended to RBS, HSBC, Citigroup and UBS.

Political leaders have called for further resignations.

Labour's Ed Miliband said he did not believe trust in banks could be restored by Bob Diamond.

Treasury committee member Pat McFadden said: "You've got to wonder what the values really are in the bank, if this was the behaviour at quite senior levels of its investment banking division."

And former Northern Ireland Finance Minister Mark Durkan has called for a full public inquiry into the "wholesale theft and corporate graft by financial institutions".

Prime Minister David Cameron said the government would introduce "an incredibly methodical series of actions to deal with all of these problems".

(NE/GK)

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