Having received fines totalling £290m by UK and US
regulators for attempting to rig the key Libor interest rate between 2005 and
2009 Barclays appointed corporate lawyer-turned-investment banker Anthony Salz
to carry out a review of the Banks operating systems and procedures.
The report’s findings are not surprising, these included an
"over-emphasis" on short-term financial performance, reinforced by a
bonus and pay culture that rewarded money-making over serving the interests of
customers and clients.
Salz also commented that there was a sense that senior management did
not want to hear bad news, and that the employees should instead solve problems
on their own.
The report is a comprehensive document totalling 236 pages, which cost
the Bank almost £18 million in fees (well its only money).
No doubt the present Management of the Bank will take some comfort from
the public mea culpa but essentially the report only served to highlight that
which was already well known.
In concise terms the failure comes down to short-termism combined with a
general failure of management.
Will anything change? The jury is still out.
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