Barclays CEO Bob Diamond Resigns Over Libor Scandal - "Dude, You're Killing Me!"
Will we eventually see U.S. bank CEOs resign?
Fat, f-ing chance.
Still it's nice to see the corrupt fail... if only fleetingly.
Massive fraud is usually not this funny:
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Chief Executive Bob Diamond resigned Tuesday, caving in to intense political and investor pressure following an interest-rate setting scandal.
The move follows the decision by Barclays Chairman Marcus Agius to quit and effectively leaves one of Europe's largest banks without leadership. Barclays said that Mr. Agius will stay on at the company until the hunt for a new chief executive is completed.
The CEO's departure comes one day before he will face tough questions from the U.K.'s Treasury Select Committee over the interest-rate scandal. A spokesman for the bank said Mr. Diamond would still appear before the committee.
Mr. Diamond's departure marks a victory for the U.K.'s political establishment, which has long complained about the bank's management culture. On Tuesday, U.K. Chancellor George Osborne hailed the move.
"I think it's the right decision for Barclays; I think it's the right decision for the country because we need Barclays bank to focus on lending to our economy and not distracted by this argument about who should be in charge," said Mr. Osborne on BBC radio. "I hope it's a first step to a new culture of responsibility in British banking."
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Flashback...
DAVOS - Bob Diamond on the Future of Financial Regulation with Maria Bartiromo
Jul 3, 2012 at 5:19 AM
Reader Comments (6)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/barclays-diamond-severance-still-in-negotiations-2012-07-03
http://blogs.marketwatch.com/election/2012/07/03/prior-to-resignation-diamond-pulled-out-of-romney-event/
http://www.businessinsider.com/ex-barclays-trader-on-trial-for-libor-fixing-says-he-was-humiliated-and-called-deaf-git-2016-6
Five former Barclays traders on trial for manipulating the LIBOR interest rate benchmark are giving their defence in London this week and several are blaming a bullying culture in the office for their actions, according to the Financial Times.
The FT reports that Jonathan Mathew testified that his boss used to call him a "deaf git" and "humiliate" him by "whacking" him with a baseball bat. He and four others are charged with manipulating LIBOR for 2 years up to 2007.
Similar allegations have already been reported by multiple newspapers including the Daily Mail and The Telegraph. Both reported that Peter Johnson make Mathew, who is partially deaf and dyslexic, stand on a chair and recite world capitals, as well as taunt him with names and the 12-inch baseball bat. Johnson, who has already pleaded guilty to fixing LIBOR, was the main LIBOR submitter at Barclays.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-02/ex-barclays-trader-freaked-out-by-2009-libor-interviews
An ex-Barclays Plc trader on trial for conspiring to rig Libor said he was "freaked out" by an internal interview in 2009 despite reassurances from his bosses that there was nothing wrong with influencing the rates submitted by colleagues.
Ryan Reich was "tapped" on the shoulder by Harry Harrison, a senior executive, in October 2009 and was taken to a floor he had "never been to before" for an interview with the bank’s lawyers. “I had spoken to Harrison four or five times in my life, so I thought that this is not good," Reich said Thursday.
The 34-year-old Reich is on trial with former colleagues Alex Pabon, Stylianos Contogoulas, Jay Merchant and Jonathan Mathew for working together between 2005 through 2007 to fix the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, a benchmark tied to trillions of dollars in securities and loans. Another ex-trader, Peter Johnson, has pleaded guilty to the charge.