Marcus Agius should, and could, have sacked Barclays CEO, Bob Diamond, over the LIBOR scandal, which has destroyed Barclays’ reputation with the public, regulators and governments, particularly in the UK and United States. It has also cost the bank more than a staggering one quarter of a billion pounds (about $450 million) so far, but multi-million pound lawsuits are bound to raise this figure much higher still. Yet Agius would resign rather than do his job properly and sack Bob Diamond, who ran Barclays Capital, the division where the damage was done; nothing demonstrates better the unhealthy, indeed supine, position of the Barclays Board. Agius didn’t, and couldn’t, control the culture of greed at the bank and the remuneration committee at the expense of both the public and shareholders. That the Board thought that Diamond giving up this year’s bonus sufficient, half of which was already unachievable after shareholders demanded, not unreasonably, that the bonus should be dependent upon Diamond achieving a return greater than the cost of capital, is laughable. At the very least Diamond should have given up his share options and repaid the bonuses he earnt between 2005 and 2009 when the division he was running was trashing the reputation of Barclays, in an orgy of greed and dishonesty.
[...] The resignation of chairman Marcus Agius demonstrates the complete breakdown of corporate governance… [...]
Interesting listening to Bob Diamond being grilled by MPs, and reflecting that he has been paid over £300,000 a week, every single week, for his last six years at Barclays. That’s £30 every minute, for every minute of his existence, or, looked at another way, that’s £1,800 a hour, for every hour of the last six years. How is that justifiable?
The investment bankers, such as Bob Diamond, who latched onto Barclays saw ‘Honesty, Integrity, Plain Dealing’ as burdens, constraints and costs in a world awash with others’ money.
The founders of Barclays knew ‘Honesty, Integrity, Plain Dealing’ were necessary in a world in which everything depended upon credibility: dictum meum pactum.
In the credit crunch, counterparties didn’t like trust or like Barclays, so didn’t lend.