Pressure grew on Barclays Plc Chief Executive Bob Diamond to quit as Britain launched an inquiry on Monday into a market-rigging scandal, saying a “culture that flourished in the age of irresponsibility” among bankers had to end. Barclays Chairman Marcus Agius resigned on Monday, saying “the buck stops with me” as the scandal over manipulating Libor interest rates claimed its first major scalp. But his departure did not take the heat off Diamond, who ran Barclays’ investment banking arm when the rate rigging took place, drawing a record fine for the lender last week in a scandal likely to involve many more banks. “The buck in Barclays stops with Bob Diamond, and it is Bob Diamond who must accept responsibility,” said John Mann, an opposition Labour member of a parliamentary committee that later this week will question Agius and Diamond.
