Barclays appoints new CEO

A Barclays bank branch is seen in London August 30, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

LONDON - Britain's Barclays bank Thursday announced the appointment of a new chief executive following the shake-up of its leadership over the Libor interest-rate fixing scandal earlier this year.

According to Barclays' statement, Antony Jenkins has been appointed as a director and as group chief executive of Barclays to succeed Bob Diamond.

Jenkins, 51, has been working in Barclays for nearly 30 years, with a background in retail banking.

"With the appointment of Sir David Walker to succeed me as Chairman in November, and of Antony as Chief Executive today, I am pleased that the new leadership of the bank is settled," Barclays Chairman Marcus Agius said.

Barclays was fined a combination of $453 million by US and British regulators at the end of June for attempts to manipulate Libor, an important interbank lending rate guiding price-setting of about 360 trillion dollars of financial products around the world, and Euribor, the euro's equivalent to Libor.

The scandal plunged Barclays, the third largest bank in Britain, into turmoil as its Chief Executive Robert Diamond and chief operating officer resigned within days.

Jenkins admitted that the bank has made serious mistakes in recent years, saying that "we clearly failed to keep pace with our stakeholders' expectations."

"We have an obligation to all of those stakeholders - customers, clients, shareholders, colleagues and broader society - and a unique opportunity to restore Barclays reputation by making it the 'go to' bank in all of our chosen markets," Jenkins added.

The announcement came as the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said it was investigating the bank in connection with dealings with Qatar Holding LLC, part of sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority, over Barclays' recapitalization during the 2008 banking crisis.