Confirming that “several” UK banks were involved in fixing the LIBOR inter-bank lending rate on Channel 4 News earlier, Bank of England governor Mervyn King was at his emollient best when asked about his role in the sacking of Barclays’ Bob Diamond.
Apparently, his board-level intervention — insisting that sacking chairman Marcus Agius wasn’t enough – was merely trying to be “helpful”.
“I had a conversation which I thought would be helpful to them in understanding how concerned the regulators were … Sometimes it’s helpful to have a third party say ‘Do you really understand how concerned they are?’, and I think they found that helpful.”
It emerged this week that the Financial Services Authority warned Barclays about Diamond’s links to LIBOR fixing before he was appointed in chief executive 2010.
Scrapbook doubts Bob will be thanking Mervyn for his “help” any time soon.