As the Libor scandal broke, Barclays’ boss did what you might expect from the man who unilaterally declared an end to City remorse for the credit crunch: he strode into an analysts’ office to say he wouldn’t be resigning

Bob Diamond strode into the offices of Morgan Stanley on Thursday in defiant mood. The boss of Barclays – facing calls for his resignation following the bank’s record-breaking £290m fine for attempting to rig interest rates – was determined to tell the analysts who recommend buying or selling Barclays’ shares that he had no intention of walking away from a 15-year career at the bank.

The atmosphere was “tense,” as one insider put it, and the pressure was on. Barclays’ shares were on the slide. By the end of the week, more than £4bn had been wiped off their value – over 15% – in the 72 hours since the fine was revealed by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic, unleashing a wave of condemnation about the culture inside the bank.

Diamond, a US-born former lecturer who has been speaking recently about his desire to make the bank a better corporate citizen, was reportedly unequivocal. “The CEO says he has no intention of standing down,” the Morgan Stanley analysts said in their account of the meeting. “Further, the CEO was appointed 18

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