RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
The chairman of the big British bank Barclays stepped down this morning. This comes just days after the bank agreed to pay British and U.S. regulators a total of $450 million, a fine to settle charges that Barclays' traders and executives had manipulated a key interest rate for profit.
Marcus Agius served as chairman since 2007 and was a big part of helping steer the bank through the financial crisis. He said in a statement he was accepting responsibility as quote, "the ultimate guardian of the bank's reputation, and the buck stops with me."
Other banks, including Citigroup and UBS are being investigated for colluding to rig London's benchmark interest rate. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.