--Chief operating officer Jerry del Missier resigns
--Resignation follows that Of CEO Robert Diamond, Tuesday
--Del Missier had taken latest role only last month
LONDON--Barclays PLC's (BCS) chief operating officer Jerry del Missier
has resigned, the second senior executive to quit the U.K. bank
Tuesday in the wake of its settlement with regulators over an
interest-rate fixing scandal.
The resignation of Mr. del Missier, who was last month elevated to
chief operating officer after several years as co-head of Barclays'
investment bank, comes hours after Chief Executive Robert Diamond
resigned.
On Monday, the bank's chairman, Marcus Agius, said he would leave the
bank as soon as a new chairman could be found. On Tuesday, Barclays
said that Mr. Agius would remain with the bank to lead a search for a
new CEO.
The resignations come after a week of intense pressure which has seen
politicians of different political stripes suggesting that those at
Barclays responsible for the scandal should take responsibility for
their actions, though none has explicitly called for any individuals
to quit.
Mr. del Missier, a Canadian, joined Barclays in June 1997 as head of
derivatives and went on to assume responsibility for trading, sales
and research. He was appointed co-president of Barclays Capital in
2005 and appointed president in 2008. In 2009, Mr. del Missier became
co-chief executive of corporate and investment banking. His elevation
to the chief operating officer role was an effort to bolster the
bank's global operations during a period of regulatory upheaval.
Barclays last week announced a $453 million settlement in an
investigation by U.S., U.K. and Asian authorities, in which it
admitted attempts at manipulating a key interest rate, the London
Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor.
The still-ongoing investigation involves a handful of global banks.
Other banks that have disclosed they are being investigated include
Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG (AG), HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC), J.P.
Morgan Chase & Co (JPM) and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC. (RBS)
Tuesday morning, Mr. Diamond, under intense public pressure, announced
his resignation, following the bank's Monday announcement that Mr.
Agius would eventually depart. Mr. Agius will remain chairman while
Barclays searches for his own replacement and for a new CEO, the bank
said.
In a statement Tuesday, Mr. Agius said Mr. del Missier had "played a
pivotal role in many of Barclays' stand-out successes during the last
15 years, including his extraordinary contributions as part of the
leadership team that built the investment bank."
At 1420 GMT, Barclays' shares were up marginally at 168 pence, after
opening down about 3%.
(Jessica Hodgson in London contributed to this article.)
-Write to Max Colchester at Max.Colchester@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 03, 2012 11:05 ET (15:05 GMT)
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