MORE banks could be caught in the scandal which saw Barclays pay £290 million to settle claims that it used underhand tactics to try to rig financial markets.
And today, Lib Dem treasury spokesman Lord Oakeshott called on Barclays’ chief executive Bob Diamond to quit.
He said: “If Mr Diamond had any shred of shame, he would resign. If the Barclays board had an inch of backbone, then they would get rid of him and get a proper professional banker to sort it all out.”
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) disclosed that it had a number of other investigations under way in the wake of the allegations that Barclays manipulated the rates at which banks lend to each other.
“We have a number of investigations that are ongoing,” Tracey McDermott, the FSA’s acting director of enforcement and financial crime, said.
“Obviously we need to look at each case on its own particular facts but the initial indications are that Barclays was not the only firm that was involved in this.”
In the depths of the financial crisis, Barclays gave false information about the interest rates it had to pay to borrow money in an effort to paint a false picture of its health to markets.
Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond who was in charge of Barclays Capital at the time the breaches occurred between 2005 and 2009, apologised and said he and three other key executives would waive their bonuses for this year.
That is not enough for Lib Dem treasury spokesman Lord Oakeshott, who called on the bank chief to quit.
He said: “If Mr Diamond had any shred of shame, he would resign. If the Barclays board had an inch of backbone, then they would get rid of him and get a proper professional banker to sort it all out.”
A trail of e-mails and messages disclosed by the FSA showed how traders broke so-called Chinese Walls, designed to avoid conflicts of interest within financial firms.
They broke protocol by requesting Barclays make changes to the Libor rate in a bid to boost their profits.