Barclays appoints David Walker as chairman

Barclays bank has appointed Sir David Walker as its new chairman in the wake of the Libor scandal.

Sir David is a senior banker who led the 2009 government inquiry into the rules governing how banks are run.

Chairman Marcus Agius said he would resign after Barclays was fined for attempting to manipulate the Libor inter-bank lending rate.

Barclays is currently without a chief executive after Bob Diamond also quit in July.

The Libor scandal led to the resignation of chief executive Bob Diamond as well as chairman Mr Agius, although he then agreed to stay on as executive chairman following Mr Diamond's departure.

Barclays was fined £290m by UK and US financial regulators in June after some of its derivatives traders were found to have attempted to rig the rate.

Last month, Chancellor George Osborne announced an inquiry into the operation of the Libor market.

This review will be led by Martin Wheatley, chief executive-designate of the Financial Conduct Authority, and will look at the regulation and governance of the Libor market, as well as use of data and price-setting mechanisms.

Sir David is a senior advisor to the American bank Morgan Stanley, having previously been chairman of Morgan Stanley International. Before that he was an executive director of the Bank of England and deputy chairman of Lloyds bank.

He will become a non-executive director of Barclays on 1 September and take up his role as chairman from 1 November.

As chairman, he will earn £750,000 a year to work "no fewer than four days per week".

After the scandal, Mr Agius said: "We are sorry for the issues that have emerged... and recognise that we have disappointed our customers and shareholders."

The US Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) imposed fines worth £102m and £128m, respectively, forcing Barclays to pay a total of around £290m.

Last month, Sir Michael Rake, the deputy chairman of Barclays and someone who had been considered the frontrunner to replace Marcus Agius, has ruled himself out of the running to become the bank's chairman.