US Edition 
Barclays executive Jerry del Missier quits over 'Libor lies'
Jerry del Missier, the co-head of Barclays investment bank who was recently promoted to chief operating officer, has resigned with immediate effect, the bank said.
It is understood that Mr del Missier was the senior manager who misinterpreted the comments of chief executive Bob Diamond after he came off a call in October 2008 with Paul Tucker, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England.
Due to that misinterpretation, Me del Missier told staff that they had been instructed by the Bank to deliberately lie about their Libor submissions.
The Financial Services Authority revealed the communication after Barclays was fined a total of £290m for manipulating the inter-bank lending rate Libor.
The FSA said: “As the substance of the telephone conversation was relayed down the chain of command at Barclays, a misunderstanding or miscommunication occurred.
“This meant that Barclays’ submitters believed mistakenly that they were operating under an instruction from the Bank of England (as conveyed by senior management) to reduce Barclays’ Libor submissions.”
Mr del Missier was one of Mr Diamond’s top two investment banking lieutenants and was recently moved to chief operating officer at the bank.
Sources said that the move had been a surprise because Mr del Missier was a trader rather than operations man. His fellow co-head, Rich Ricci, was the operations expert.
The sources suggested that Mr del Missier had been moved to make sure the investment bank was in the hands of someone who could clean up the operations rather than deliver trading profits.
Mr del Missier said: “My 15 years at Barclays have been a time of great accomplishment, both for me personally and for the bank. I am grateful for the opportunities that were provided to me and proud of what we achieved.
We built one of the premier global investment banks from scratch – something that we are all very proud of. The firm is as strong today as it ever has been and is incredibly well placed to succeed within the post financial reform competitive landscape.”
Chairman Marcus Agius said: “Jerry played a pivotal role in many of Barclays stand-out successes during the last 15 years, including his extraordinary contributions as part of the leadership team that built the investment bank.
“His many contributions to the firm were critical to why Barclays was able to weather the extreme market turbulence of the credit crisis as well as we did. His colleagues, clients and other stakeholders hold him in the highest regard.”