Senin, 02 Juli 2012

'I love Barclays': Boss Bob Diamond apologises for Libor rate-rigging scandal as he defends bank's culture

'I love Barclays': Boss Bob Diamond apologises for Libor rate-rigging scandal as he defends bank's culture

By James Salmon

PUBLISHED: 16:25 EST, 2 July 2012 | UPDATED: 16:58 EST, 2 July 2012

Bob Diamond has talked of his ‘love’ for Barclays in an impassioned defence of the bank’s culture in the wake of the rate-rigging scandal.

On the day Barclays chairman Marcus Agius confirmed his departure, the under-fire chief executive finally apologised for the debacle.

But City figures say he has 48 hours to save his job, with his performance before the powerful Treasury Select Committee tomorrow crucial to his future.

Enlarge   Fallout: Barclays shares have been on a rollercoaster ride and a Parliamentary inquiry now looms

Fallout: Barclays shares have been on a rollercoaster ride and a Parliamentary inquiry now looms

Last night it emerged that Barclays is speeding up succession plans for Diamond whether he survives or not.

Plans to launch an internal review of the bank’s misdemeanours since the financial crash were criticised as ‘laughable’, with shareholders piling on the pressure for Diamond to fall on his sword. 

As Barclays faced the threat of criminal prosecutions from the Serious Fraud Office and the Government announced a full Parliamentary inquiry into the banking sector, Diamond sent a lengthy internal memo to his staff.

The American said the manipulation of Libor â€" the interbank lending rate â€" was the work of a ‘small minority’.  

He added: ‘No-one is more sorry, disappointed and angry about these events than I am.

‘I am disappointed because many of these behaviours happened on my watch.

‘I love Barclays, and I am proud of all of you. We all know that these events are not representative of our culture, and it is my responsibility to get to the bottom of that and resolve it.’

Diamond unveiled plans for a ‘root and branch’ reform of all its ‘flawed past practices’ since the financial crash kicked off in 2007.  

The review is likely to include its own investigation into rate-rigging and selling risky loans to small businesses, for which it was also found guilty by the Financial Services Authority last week and fined £290million in the UK and US.

But insiders said it would not include a probe into Barclays’ controversial tax affairs, despite being ordered to pay back £500million in tax it tried to avoid earlier this year.

The audit will be spearheaded by an ‘independent third party’. This will report to Sir Mike Rake, who was promoted to deputy chairman yesterday and is tipped to replace Agius.

A report of the findings will be published and a ‘mandatory code’ of conduct applied across Barclays.

But Lydia Prieg from the New Economics Foundation think-tank said: ‘It is laughable to suggest that Barclays can conduct an internal review into its own malpractice.

‘This is an institution that deliberately manipulated market information for individual gain, with a compliance department that failed to act on three separate warnings about rate-rigging.’

Tom Powdrill, from small shareholder lobby group Pirc, called on Diamond to quit and said the bank should claw back bonuses from those involved.
He added: ‘Diamond is becoming a magnet for bad news at Barclays.

Chucking the chairman under the bus isn’t going far enough.

‘As long as he [Diamond] stays the drip, drip of reputational damage continues.

Past awards will have to be reviewed and clawback applied.’

But Diamond can already count on some support in the City, with the bank’s share price rebounding 5.55p to 168.4p.

But Gary Greenwood, an analyst from Shore Capital, said: ‘From a pure operational perspective it is not clear to us that his removal would be beneficial, but we question whether the negative sentiment towards the company, of which he is the focus, can be repaired while he remains at the helm.’

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What do Bankers have to do for Dave to keep to his word on the £2000 PA Banker Bonus? Just think it was Osborne who gave bankers a 5% tax cut just a few weeks ago. Rewarding failure again it seams, this time it is the Goverment doing it.

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At least we know money talks then.

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