Knight and the BBA put banker bash on hold
Angela Knight, the departing chief executive of the British Bankers’ Association, was yesterday forced to cancel the industry body’s summer party amid the continuing furore over the Libor interest rate scandal.
News of the scrapped banker bash came via an email from Ben Andersen-Tuffnell to invitees, advising them that the shindig, planned for tomorrow on the lawn outside Westminster Abbey, would no longer be taking place.
Dear Attendee, (the email stated): “We believe that in the current circumstances it would be wrong to proceed with the reception on Wednesday evening.
“We regret the short notice but our industry needs to think long and hard about its collective behaviour and I am sure you understand this is not the time for such an event to take place.
“Regards, Angela Knight CBE, chief executive, British Bankers’ Association (BBA).
“The voice of banking and financial services”.
Had the party gone ahead, it would have clashed with Bob Diamond’s appearance tomorrow across the road at Portcullis House, where the Barclays chief executive will be trying to explain his bank’s role in the way in which the Libor interest rate was manipulated.
Yesterday, it emerged that Marcus Agius, who stepped down as chairman of Barclays over the interest rate fixing scandal at the bank, had also tendered his resignation as chairman of the British Bankers’ Association
Last week the BBA said it was “shocked” by the regulator’s report about the manipulation of Libor. Barclays was fined a record £290m for attempting to alter the interbank lending rate between 2005 and 2009.
Incoming BBA chief executive Anthony Browne must be hoping things will have changed for the better by the time the Christmas party season comes around.