Barclays Chairman Resigns, CEO Under Fire

British bank Barclays's Chairman Marcus Agius at the World Economic Forum in Davos in this file photo. Agius has now resigned amid a firestorm of pressure. (Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images)

Marcus Agius, the chairman of UK’s second biggest bank Barclays Plc, has resigned amid a firestorm of pressure from stakeholders arising from the bank’s involvement in fixing interest rates several years ago.

Last week, it was disclosed that Barclays would pay 290 million pounds ($453 million) in a settlement with U.S. and U.K. regulators for its role in a Libor rate-fixing scheme. Barclays was the first bank to settle with authorities, and other banks are still under investigation. It is expected that more banks would be fined for their roles in similar schemes.

While Robert Diamond, the bank’s CEO, apologized last week for Barclays’s role, investors and other stakeholders were unappeased, and Monday morning, Agius said that “the buck stops with me” and resigned from his position as chairman of the bank, as well as his position at the British Bankers Association, which sponsors the Libor.

Barclays is attempting to limit the fallout of the news, but it remains to be seen whether Agius’s resignation is enough to calm stakeholders.

In a letter to employees on Monday, the American-born Diamond said that the firm is investigating how and who had perpetrated the schemes to possibly manipulate Libor rates, which are used to set interest rates on more than $800 trillion loans and securities.

Diamond also expressed his disappointment in the alleged schemes and maintained that such acts were not indicative of Barclays.

But Diamond himself is also facing calls to resign.

“The buck in Barclays stops with Bob Diamond, and it is Bob Diamond who must accept responsibility,” said Labor MP John Mann, according to a Reuters report. “He’s got to go,” he said.

The U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, without naming Diamond specifically, told the U.K. Parliament Monday, “It’s time to deal with the culture that flourished in the age of irresponsibility and hold those who allowed it to do so to account.”

Agius will remain chairman until a successor is found. Michael Rake, an independent director of the bank, will assume the role of deputy chairman.