Barclays CEO Bob Diamond Resigns

That was quick. After parliament was on his case last week, Barclays CEO Bob Diamond stepped down today, reports Mark Scott.

Mr. Diamond’s top deputies told employees in 2007 and 2008 to report artificially low rates in line with those of rivals in an effort to deflect scrutiny about the bank’s health at the height of the financial crisis, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Barclays declined to comment about the involvement of senior executives.

Mr. Diamond’s resignation comes after the settlement that Barclays reached last week with American and British authorities. The deal is one result of a wide-ranging inquiry into how big banks set certain benchmarks, including the London interbank offered rate, or Libor.

I'll miss his cameos on the Golf Channel around Playoff(C) time.

Update on Tuesday, July 3, 2012 at 08:26 AM by Geoff

**The Guardian's live blog has a pretty incredible run-down of how the resignation unfolded and also includes odds on the next likely CEO. They are also betting on where Diamond lands. I just want to know if he'll get invited back to the AT&T National Pro-Am now?

Comments

[BrianS]

Wow, this hurts. Isn't their whole campaign with Phil built around integrity and such ? Not good, especially since LIBOR is not just a "bank to bank" issue, but flows through to the rates paid in mortgages, credit cards and such.

[DTF]

If You Know Who was sponsored by Barclays can you imagine the cacophony calling for him to return all the sponsorship funds!!!

Diamond is a prick, he had it coming.

[A3]

DTF now now such rancor towards a CEO, save it for Tiger.

[digsouth]

A3, are you smoking good stuff? DTF thinks TW's success is from his one man cheering squad.

On a more serious note, the joke of PM ''correcting'' cheating golfers in the name of Barklays is really sad. All of these golfers have no soul when it comes to the money companies, and sponsorship by such.

The exposure of the creeps and criminals who run the white collar crime colonies they call banks and such, is rapidly running the world into a rat hole, and the politicians sanction it. Obama and all have not done a damn real thing to correct the near death experience Bush let happen, and if you are on the wrong side of the hump, no way is your putt gonna find the hole.

[carnaptious and camsteerie]

When the british banking system was deregulated in the 1980s, the whole culture changed and I'm not just talking about the 'rotten to the core investment side' of it. Even high street banks became part of the new order. Bank managers were bullied into making targets instead of being allowed to do what they were trained to do which was how best to look after their customers. In essence, the culture changed from a service industry to a retail industry.

Bob Diamond is rumoured to be taking off with a golden boot of £30m.

[WTF]

And how would you know anything about Bob Diamond, DTF?

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

"...and if you are on the wrong side of the hump, no way is your putt gonna find the hole."

I'm stealing that! With attribution, of course.

[RickABQ]

dig - Ky -

I played Black Mesa this morning and could have used that line of dig's four,maybe five times! And twice it didn't get in the hole on the following putt either... Great line!

[OWGR Fan]

Didn't one of Phils other past sponsors (Ernst Young or KPMG maybe?) pay a large fine to the SEC for certain financial transgressions? Guessing Phils checks cleared.

[Walter]

Lots of professional golf sponsors in the twenty banks required to "provide information". RBC, RBS, HSBC, Citibank, etc., etc.

[johnnnycz]

It's no surprise we're seeing CEO banksters being forced to resign and/or get fired....egomaniacs tend to create their own downfall...the fact that alot of them are relatively avid golfers who like to sponsor Tour events should in no way reflect badly on the game IMO.

Looking back, it's obvious these fatcats used their sponsorships of Tour events for 1) the tax write offs and 2) they provided a convenient place to scheme with other banksters in order to further pad their pockets at the expense of the great unwashed masses.

[Bartleby]

I'd like to run a multi-billion dollar criminal enterprise where the worst that can happen to me if I get caught is that I have to resign and keep all my money.

[carnaptious and camsteerie]

Fred the Shred may yet have to do 'time'.

From today's Scotsman ...

" ... Under company law it is an offence for a business to provide a misleading picture of its financial health.

In April 2008, just months before the crash, RBS persuaded investors to bankroll it to the tune of £12 billion without revealing how badly exposed it was to US mortgage debts.

A report by the Financial Services Authority last year said RBS had a “bias towards optimism” when making pronouncements about their prospects. Experts have argued the FSA report contained enough evidence about the behaviour of Mr Goodwin and other senior bankers to warrant a criminal investigation."

[DTF]

WTF, I know. Whether you choose to believe that or not is no concern I mine.

[stymie]

DTF & Digs: Please resume your meds regimens ASAP. Thanks.

[Ghillie]

Stymie: there is a world after the 19th hole, and a lot of people are suffering because of the irresponsibility of these bankers and the governments that enabled them. When some of the banking CEOs and banking superstars associate with golf, golf will have to take its hits.

Diamoind will walk off a billionaire, having overseen the grossest mismanagement in a while, given that the irresponsibilities that led up to 2008 are not far behind us. Thousands, if not millions, of people have been ruined because the bonus boys took unwarrantable risks in order to fatten their year-ends. And they were allowed, if not even encouraged, to do it by not only their industry but their governments, and they were generally bailed out by the same poor sods they had destroyed, and by those of us who had nothing to do with any of it (well, not so much here, as I live in Canada, where we actually have banking regulations -- though even we are going to get caught up in the Barclay's mess, I suspect. At least we missed Cleveland and the rest of the sub-prime debacle).

So as long as these people -- and any others --sponsor golf, then a golf dicussion locale is or should not be immune to considferation of who golf and golfers associate with. It's not just fair comment, it's relevant.

Sorry, don't believe in the Woods=driven approach, where sporting excellence excuses any behaviour, irrespective of consequence.