Reuters reports that the toppling of two senior Barclays executives on Tuesday in the midst of an expanding rate-rigging scandal is rattling the bank's fledgling U.S. wealth management business.
Barclays was halfway toward completing a $500m, five-year plan to build a brokerage franchise aimed at wealthy Americans when Robert Diamond, the Massachusetts-born CEO, who authorized the plan, resigned.
Taking the plunge with Diamond was Barclays Canadian-born chief operating officer, Jerry del Missier, who also resigned as chairman of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the leading broker trade group in the United States. As chairman of SIFMA, del Missier had achieved a wide profile among brokers.
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Barclays resignations rattle U.S. wealth unit
In the meantime, the news agency also reports that Crispin Odey, one of Europe's best-known hedge fund managers, has spotted an opportunity in shares in UK bank Barclays amidst the growing scandal over interest rate rigging.
'It's the cheapest bank in the world', Odey told Reuters.
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