Barclays' Diamond Says Rivals Lowballed Libor

Robert Diamond, who quit this week as chief executive officer of Barclays Plc (BARC), sought to blame other banks for misleading markets about their ability to borrow and regulators for turning a blind eye.

Ordered to testify to British lawmakers after Barclays agreed to pay a record 290-million-pound ($455 million) fine for rigging the London interbank offered rate, Diamond said yesterday he was “disappointed” regulators failed to act on repeated warnings from Barclays that competitors had lowballed their submissions. Last week, regulators found Barclays had tried to manipulate the benchmark for profit and to mask its difficulty borrowing money during the credit crisis.

Huge Unhappiness

The scandal has already cost the jobs of Barclays Chairman Marcus Agius, 65, and Chief Operating Officer Jerry Del Missier, 50.

‘Physically Ill’

Trading-desk supervisors failed to alert their bosses, Diamond said.

Moody’s Cut

Barclays shares rose 0.3 percent to 166.45 pence at 9:07 a.m. in London trading today. The FSA has “a number of investigations concerning Libor” beyond Barclays’s case, its acting head of enforcement, Tracey McDermott, said on July 2.