Endless hours could be spent writing on Barclays and Bob Diamond. I'll just quote the FT editorial instead:
The bank's response has been inadequate. While it has instigated disciplinary action against some individuals, there has been no proper accounting for what went on. For instance, the legal settlement does not reveal how high up the bank the abuses went. This must now be corrected. Barclays should immediately appoint an independent figure with unfettered access to all the information to investigate the rate-rigging. The conclusions must then be published without interference. In the absence of this, the authorities must find another way.
As for Mr Diamond, he may not have been the top boss at the time but as the bank's dominant executive he was clearly responsible for its hard-driving culture. If he had an ounce of shame, he would immediately step down.
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we don’t need ‘an independent figure’ appointed by Barclays! that’s like asking an independent figure appointed by NewsCorp to investigate the phone hacking scandal! let’s have criminal prosecutions and everything will be aired in the open. sunshine remains the best discinfectant. even the captured FSA and the captured Treasury Committee both of whom facilitated the cover up of the RBS scandal cannot be trusted. Bob Diamond is as comfortable appearing before Tyrie’s Treasury Committee just as the Murdoch’s were appearing before Whittingdale’s Committee. nothing will come out of it. bring in the police and the SFO (who I understand caused outrage amongst their own staff the top brass refused to prosecute the LIBOR riggers for false accounting a few years back).
‘If he had an ounce of shame, he would immediately step down.’ As we now see, he clearly doesn’t and neither does the Barclay’s board – or any backbone, either.
As we’ve seen consistently since 2008, the culture of banking and finance (and big business too to a slightly lesser extent) has become so detached from that of society in general that they no longer align with moral and ethical norms and standards that apply elsewhere. Cheating, lying, and duplicitous behaviour are not seen as bad traits but encouraged. Even when caught out people are so convinced that what they did was within acceptable norms that they cannot even understand why they should take any blame for what’s gone on or be punished for it. Worse still – and as Jon Snow’s interview with Angela Knight of the BBA on Ch4 News last evening showed – even when presented with overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing the default position is aggresive denial, and if that fails, deny all responsibility and attempt to pass the buck.
Ultimately though, this all distils down to a culture built on a contempt for everyone and everything that is not banking or finance related: rules, regulations, work, business, politicians and politics, governments, and finally ordinary citizens and society. A contemp generated by (in the City of London’s case in particular) hundreds of years of priviledge and largely unrestricted and unrestrained access to and use of power. Until that is tackled and banking and finance are made the servants of society rather than the masters of it very little of substance will actually change.
Agreed, as ever
Richard, Chinese walls weren’t just breached. They were missing completely. The section on Systems & Controls in the FSA report on Barclays makes this clear. And Barclays management didn’t care, either – hence three reports to their compliance department about this were ignored.
But there’s an even more serious issue here. The LIBOR fixing that went on during the financial crisis was deliberate and systematic under-valuing of funding costs with the intention of deceiving investors with regard to the true state of the bank’s finances. I reckon that’s fraud. The likelihood that other banks were doing it too doesn’t excuse Barclays’ behaviour.
For that reason, and also because of the major internal control failure, Diamond should be sacked. That would require an extraordinary meeting of shareholders. Can’t come too soon for me.