Barclays CEO Diamond quits as scandal snowballs

Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond resigned on Tuesday over the Libor interest rate-rigging scandal but chairman Marcus Agius returned shortly after quitting in a process expected to trigger a root-and-branch review of malpractices in Barclays and other British banks.

Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond resigned on Tuesday over the Libor interest rate-rigging scandal but chairman Marcus Agius returned shortly after quitting in a process expected to trigger a root-and-branch review of malpractices in Barclays and other British banks.

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Diamond said in a statement that in his 16 years at the top, “my motivation has always been to do what I believed to be in the best interests of Barclays. No decision over that period was as hard as the one that I make now to stand down as chief executive.”

Diamond will appear before a Parliamentary committee on Wednesday for a hearing on the Libor scandal - inter-bank rates that were fixed by Barclays executives under Diamond’s watch.

Meanwhile, Agius returned as Barclays chairman on Tuesday, after the bank said it will publish a root-and-branch review of all flawed business practices over the past five years.

Barclays alone is not facing a probe. Osborne said on Tuesday that it was “public knowledge” that Royal Bank of Scotland too was involved in rate rigging.