巴克莱董事长昨日辞职成功?

Marcus Agius is poised to resign as chairman of Barclays yestoday, in the hope that his departure will take the sting out of mounting criticism from politicians and shareholders over the bank's role in the price-fixing of interbank lending rates.

马库斯•阿吉斯(Marcus Agius)准备于今日辞去巴克莱(Barclays)董事长职务，以缓解政界人士和公司股东对该行在银行间拆借利率操纵案中所扮角色的不断高涨的批评声浪。

Mr Agius has been sharply criticised by investors over several issues during his five-year tenure as chairman – notably in 2008 when they felt he failed to protect their shareholder pre-emption rights by raising emergency financing from the Middle East, then by pushing through last year's generous pay deal for chief executive Bob Diamond.

阿吉斯在五年任期中因多个问题受到公司股东的尖锐批评--2008年阿吉斯从中东引入紧急援助资金的做法被公司股东认为是未能保障其优先购股权，此外，去年阿吉斯还力主通过了为首席执行官鲍勃•戴蒙德(Bob Diamond)提供的慷慨薪酬方案。

It is unclear whether the bank has a firm replacement yet lined up, though Sir Michael Rake, the bank's senior independent director, may take over as chairman himself on a temporary basis, or alternatively ask Sir John Sutherland, the former Cadbury chairman, or Alison Carnwath, who heads the remuneration committee, to assume the role, according to people close to the situation.

目前尚不清楚巴克莱是否已确定董事长的继任人选，但知情人士表示，该行资深独立董事利万基爵士(Sir Michael Rake)可能会暂时接任董事长，曾任吉百利(Cadbury)董事长的约翰•萨瑟兰爵士(Sir John Sutherland)和巴克莱董事会薪酬委员会主席埃里森•卡恩沃思(Alison Carnwath)也是可能人选。

Barclays last week paid a record £290m to UK and US regulators for submitting fraudulent bids to the process for setting the London interbank offered rate, which is the reference point for $360tn in contracts worldwide. The bank admitted that its traders sought to manipulate the rates and that it also understated its borrowing costs during the financial crisis because it believed other banks were doing the same.

巴克莱上周向欧美监管当局支付了创纪录的2.9亿英镑罚款，原因是它在参与设定伦敦银行间同业拆借利率(Libor)的过程中提交虚假报价，而Libor是全球规模共计360万亿美元的合约的基准利率。巴克莱承认其交易员存在利率操纵行为，并在金融危机中低报了自身借款成本，原因是认为其他银行也有同样行为。

Mr Diamond is already set to face a grilling over the scandal by parliament's Treasury select committee on Wednesday, and new details emerged yesterday about his personal involvement with setting of the Libor rate.

戴蒙德将于周三就利率操纵丑闻接受英国下议院财政部特别委员会(House of Commons Treasury Select Committee)的质询。此外，昨日还有关于戴蒙德个人参与Libor设定过程的新细节传出。

In 2008, Mr Diamond spoke to Paul Tucker, deputy governor of the Bank of England, about Barclays' submissions to the Libor process. When word of that conversation was passed down, managers at the bank "mistakenly" believed they had been granted permission to submit artificially low estimates.

2008年，戴蒙德向英国央行(BoE)副行长保罗•塔克(Paul Tucker)汇报了巴克莱在Libor设定过程中的报价情况。当有关此次谈话的消息在巴克莱内部传开时，该行管理层"错误地"认为自己已获准提交人为压低的拆借利率报价。

The conversation is described without names in the official UK and US settlement documents from last week's fine. They say a senior BoE official asked a senior Barclays manager on October 29 2008, why Barclays' Libor submissions were higher than those of other banks.

上周英国与美国监管当局的对巴克莱罚款和解文件中隐去了此次谈话双方的姓名。文件称，英国央行某高级官员于2008年10月29日询问巴克莱某高管称，为什么巴克莱的Libor报价高于其他银行。

Three people familiar with the contents confirmed that the call was between Mr Diamond and Mr Tucker, who heads the BoE's financial stability arm.

三位知情人士证实，电话会谈的双方是戴蒙德和英国央行主管金融稳定事务的副行长塔克。

After their conversation, lower-level Barclays' officials told the employees who submitted the bank's Libor estimates to lower their bids because they "believed mistakenly that they were operating under an instruction from the Bank of England (as conveyed by senior management) to reduce Barclays' Libor submissions", according to the UK Financial Services Authority's description of what happened.

根据来自英国金融服务管理局(FSA)的描述，级别较低的巴克莱管理人员在此次谈话后指示该行负责提交Libor估计值的员工压低报价，因为他们"错误地认为来自英国央行的指令（由高管层传达）要求巴克莱下调Libor报价"。