HispanicBusiness

Barclays chairman Marc Agius on Tuesday described the rate-rigging by traders at the bank as "abhorrent," but insisted that the board was kept in the dark about the practice.

Agius, who last week announced his resignation over the scandal, but was reinstated to oversee the appointment of a new leadership at Barclays, was giving evidence a parliamentary committee.

He revealed that Bob Diamond, the bank's disgraced chief executive who stepped down a week ago - had come under intense pressure from the Bank of England and the regulatory bodies to leave.

A letter from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) watchdog made available to the committee showed the authority's deep concern over a "pattern of behaviour" at Barclays which was "at the aggressive end of interpretation of the relevant rules and regulations."

"Barclays has a tendency continually to seek advantage from complex structures or favourable regulatory interpretations," said the letter. It accused the bank of having been "misleading" on so-called stress tests.

John Mann, a Labour parliamentarian, said he was furious that the correspondence, which dates back to 2010, had only now been released by Barclays. "Barclays is playing politics with parliament," said Mann.

Diamond, a US banker who joined Barclays in 1996, will receive around $3.1 million (2 million pounds) in final salary and pension benefits, but has voluntarily given up bonus entitlements worth a potential 20 million pounds, Agius told parliamentarians.

Agius said the board welcomed Diamond's move to forgo his long-term bonus incentives and said he hoped the decision would "help close this chapter and allow Barclays to move forward and prosper.

The British bank was fined $451.6 million (290 million pounds) by British and US regulators earlier this month over attempts to rig the Libor rate, the key benchmark for fixing the daily interbank lending rate.