Former Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond will give up bonuses worth £20 million after resigning over a rate-rigging scandal, the bank’s chairman said yesterday.

But chairman Marcus Agius told British lawmakers investigating the scandal that Diamond, whose pay packages during the financial crisis were fiercely controversial, would still receive a final pay-off of around £2 million.

“Bob Diamond has voluntarily decided to forgo any deferred consideration and any deferred bonuses to which he would otherwise have been entitled,” Mr Agius told Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee. “The maximum amount would be £20 million,” he said.

Mr Diamond and Mr Agius both resigned last week over revelations that Barclays traders attempted to manipulate key inter-bank lending rates, but Mr Agius is staying on to lead the search for Mr Diamond’s replacement.

Barclays was fined £290 million last month by British and US regulators for the attempted rigging of the Libor inter-bank lending rate and Euribor, its eurozone equivalent. When asked about what US-born Mr Diamond, who only took over at Barclays chief executive in January 2011, would receive in terms of salary, pension and other benefits, Mr Agius said: “It comes to around £2 million.”

In a separate statement, Barclays said Mr Diamond, 60, would still receive up to 12 months’ salary, pension allowance and other benefits.

Mr Diamond had “voluntarily offered to waive all of his unvested deferred bonus awards and long term incentive share awards,” it said.

“This is in addition to his previous decision to forgo any consideration for an annual bonus this year.”

The bank added that Mr Diamond has also agreed to forgo his contractual entitlement to tax equalisation. “Despite having no personal culpability, he recognises more than anyone the negative attention that they have generated and has taken characteristically strong action to address that,” Mr Agius said of Mr Diamond.

Mr Diamond himself wrote: “It is my hope that my decision to step down and today’s agreement on my remuneration will help close this chapter and allow Barclays to move forward and prosper.”

Mr Diamond was one of the world’s highest paid bankers, earning a package worth £17.7 million last year, and drew the admiration of many in the industry for making Barclays a global player in investment banking.

But his payouts became a symbol of banking’s bonus culture, which became deeply unpopular with the British public during the economic downturn.