Barclays chairman Agius ‘set to quit’

Marcus Agius, the chairman of Barclays Bank, was last night reported to be on the brink of stepping down as the row intensified over the Libor rate-fixing scandal in the UK.

Reports said Mr Agius was about to leave the embattled bank, which declined to comment on the suggestions. The development came as Business Secretary Vince Cable backed calls for a criminal investigation into bankers involved in the affair. The Liberal Democrat Cabinet minister said the public could not understand why the perpetrators of “what looks like a conspiracy” were allowed to “just walk away”.

Mr Agius is the son of a Maltese trade commissioner who served in London in the pre-war years.

He was originally an engineer at Vickers but turned to banking, followed an MBA at Harvard and later moved to Barclays.

Lord Blair, a former head of Scotland Yard, added his weight to the call for a criminal investigation.

He said yesterday that there had to be police inquiries into revelations that traders at Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and other banks had tried to fix the rate.

Mr Cable said the Serious Fraud Office was having “a fresh look” at the Financial Services Authority’s investigation into the affair and that the public expected criminal prosecutions.

His intervention came as it emerged that taxpayer-backed RBS has sacked four staff over their alleged role in the Libor-fixing scandal. The bank declined to comment on the matter, but sources said the sackings were made at the end of last year.

Mr Agius will also be questioned by MPs, and is reportedly facing shareholder moves to replace him.

BBC business editor Robert Peston told BBC News: “Today Mr Agius has told his colleagues on the Barclays board that he will be going.

“It’s not wholly unexpected. Mr Agius was first in the firing line as far as shareholders were concerned, they’ve been thinking for some time that Barclays might need a new chairman, he’s been in the job for six years next year.”