Ex Barclays boss waives right to €25m

Bob Diamond, the former boss of Barclays, has given up bonuses worth up to €25m following his resignation over a rate-fixing scandal, the bank’s chairman said in parliamentary testimony yesterday.

Marcus Agius was the man at the top of Barclays when its traders manipulated a benchmark interest rate.

In testimony, Mr Agius acknowledged the central bank governor had played a pivotal role in pushing Mr Diamond out of his job, and described the personal drama behind the scandal which erupted last week and culminated in Mr Diamond’s resignation.

Barclays has been fined over €350m for its part in manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, the rate that underpins transactions worth hundreds of trillions of dollars worldwide.

Mr Agius was the first Barclays executive to quit when the scandal erupted. Mr Diamond resigned a day later.

“Bob Diamond has voluntarily decided to forgo any deferred consideration and deferred bonuses to which he otherwise would have been entitled to,” Mr Agius, 65, told the panel. “The maximum amount would be £20m (€25m).”

Diamond, 60, would still receive a year’s pay and a cash payment instead of a pension, together worth £2m, he said.

— Reuters