Marcus Agius, the chairman of Barclays, stepped down yesterday over the interest rate rigging scandal at the bank in the wake of fierce shareholder and political pressure over the bank’s “misconduct”.
Barclays was fined a record £290m last week for attempting to manipulate the interbank lending rate, Libor, between 2005 and 2009.
Agius, chairman for five years, said yesterday: “Last week's events – evidencing as they do unacceptable standards of behaviour within the bank – have dealt a devastating blow to Barclays reputation. As Chairman, I am the ultimate guardian of the bank's reputation. Accordingly, the buck stops with me and I must acknowledge responsibility by standing aside.”
But peers, MP’s, shareholders past and present and the Twiterati were all calling for Barclays CEO Diamond to stand down too.
Lord Oakeshott, the Liberal Democrat peer, said: “Marcus Agius going while Bob Diamond stays would be no solution to this scandal. Diamond is the driver and Agius only a passenger in the Barclays car crash.”
Baroness Weathcroft, a Tory peer and former Barclays board member, said: “I think it’s very uncomfortable for both of them. I am not on the board now, so I don’t know how the tenoro of debate is going but I think certainly they must be looking at what’s being said in Parliament, by the Governor of the Bank of England, and wondering whether they can go on like this.”
Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, said: “I'm like everybody else in this in that now that the chairman of Barclays has fallen on his sword and has taken responsibility for what has happened, everybody is asking when are the other senior people at the top of Barclays going to take responsibility for the things that happened on their watch. I don't think it is for politicians to individually hire and fire bankers, but I do think the buck stops at the top.”
Elsewhere John Mann, Labour MP, told Sky News: “The buck in Barclays stops with Bob Diamond, and it is Bob Diamond who must accept responsibility. He (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.”
Which? has already called for the FSA to investigate whether consumers have lost out financially from the Libor interest rates-fixing scandal, and if they have to make sure the banks compensate them properly.
Is calling for urgent and immediate action to put trust and ethics back into the banking system.
The consumer body has also demanded a change to how the Libor interest rate is managed in future as it does not believe the British Bankers' Association is a fit and proper organisation to manage the process.
Which? chief executive Peter Vicary-Smith said: “Consumers are clearly fed up with one banking scandal after another. Banks and bankers will continue to be seen as untouchable unless individuals are held to account for their actions and the culture of banking is changed for good.
“The fines handed down to banks are not a deterrent. Last week Barclays was fined less than £60 million in the UK, compared to £231 million in the US, and has paid out £2 billion in compensation and settlements in the last three years, but that seems to have little effect.
"The Government needs to change the rules so that criminal prosecutions can be brought against individuals if banks have flouted the rules. We also want the banking sector referred to the Competition Commission immediately. More competition is essential to force a change in the culture of British banking."
