Barclays Bank Chairman Marcus Agius Confirms Resignation, Bank To Make Audit Reports Public

Barclays Bank chairman Marcus Agius Monday confirmed that he had resigned over the London Inter Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) fixing scandal.

The bank was fined £290 million ($450m) by the U.S. and UK regulators last week for attempting to manipulate the key Libor.

Agius, who was the chairman of Barclays for more than five years, said in a statement: 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.

He also apologized to his shareholders and customers. I am truly sorry that our customers, clients, employees and shareholders have been let down, Agius said.

The bank's board has agreed to a root and branch review of its past wrong practices and also to make the auditors findings public. It also said that it would enforce a new mandatory code of conduct for its employees, BBC reported.

Agius will appear before the Treasury committee to answer their queries on the issue Thursday while Barclays' chief executive Bob Diamond will appear before the committee Wednesday.

Agius and Diamond have faced calls to resign after the bank was fined. Though Diamond has retained his job at present, the pressure is on for him to quit.

The buck in Barclays stops with Bob Diamond, and it is Bob Diamond who must accept responsibility, said John Mann, a Labor politician who is part of a panel of lawmakers, Reuters report said.

Many other banks, including Citygroup, HSBC and UBS, are also being investigated by the North American and European authorities, and analysts expect a few more cases of malpractice to be unearthed in the probe.

Libor Scandal

Libor (London Inter Bank Offered Rate) is the average rate in which London banks lend money to each other and is the benchmark for setting prices on derivatives and other financial products like euro bonds to the tune of $350 trillion.

Barclays was fined for submitting artificially low Libor estimates for its borrowings in the period 2007-2009. The bank also agreed that some of its traders had attempted to manipulate the setting of Libor rates.

Submitting lower than actual rates would indicate that Barclays is a better lending risk than actually it was, BBC reported.