LONDON — Robert E. Diamond Jr., the former chief executive of Barclays,
told a British parliamentary committee on Wednesday that the
manipulation of global interest rate benchmarks involving 14 traders at
the bank had made him “physically sick.”
But the American-born banker, who resigned on Tuesday, also placed some of the blame for the rate manipulation scandal on regulators.
He said that the bank had raised concerns multiple times with American and British authorities about discrepancies over how Libor — the London interbank offered rate, a measure of how much banks charge each other for loans — was set. The bank was not told to stop the practice, according to Barclays’ documents submitted to the British Parliament.
“A number of banks were posting rates that were significantly below ours that we didn’t think were correct,” Mr. Diamond told the committee.
“I can’t sit here and say no one in the industry didn’t know about the problems with Libor,” he said. “There was an issue out there and it should have been dealt with more broadly.”
Mr. Diamond also sought to deflect attention from the bank’s role in the authorities’ continuing investigation, pointing out that other major global financial institutions also had been implicated. United States and British regulators, who announced a $450 million settlement with Barclays last week, are currently investigating the actions of more than 10 large financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase, UBS and Citigroup.
Read more: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/07/04/diamond-defends-barclays-response-to-interest-rate-scandal/?hp
But the American-born banker, who resigned on Tuesday, also placed some of the blame for the rate manipulation scandal on regulators.
He said that the bank had raised concerns multiple times with American and British authorities about discrepancies over how Libor — the London interbank offered rate, a measure of how much banks charge each other for loans — was set. The bank was not told to stop the practice, according to Barclays’ documents submitted to the British Parliament.
“A number of banks were posting rates that were significantly below ours that we didn’t think were correct,” Mr. Diamond told the committee.
“I can’t sit here and say no one in the industry didn’t know about the problems with Libor,” he said. “There was an issue out there and it should have been dealt with more broadly.”
Mr. Diamond also sought to deflect attention from the bank’s role in the authorities’ continuing investigation, pointing out that other major global financial institutions also had been implicated. United States and British regulators, who announced a $450 million settlement with Barclays last week, are currently investigating the actions of more than 10 large financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase, UBS and Citigroup.
Read more: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/07/04/diamond-defends-barclays-response-to-interest-rate-scandal/?hp
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