I HAVE been following the Barclays scandal in the United Kingdom and the Parliamentary cross examination of Bob Diamond, the ex-CEO, and Marcus Agius, the chairman. What is crystal clear is the MPs (members of parliament) are challenging both men for their failure to ensure the right “Tone at the Top” and the right culture throughout the organisation or to put it another way, they are being asked to account for the apparent lack of righteousness in Barclays “on their watch.”
What struck me was the best questions were asked by a lady MP: precise, detailed and to the point. They also were the ones that exposed most clearly problems of process not just in Barclays but perhaps also in the regulators. The other fact to strike me as I was watching was that when she was given unsatisfactory answers, she was very polite, but did not let go; she returned to the issues she was concerned about effectively. No member of the parliamentary committee was better than her at pinning the Barclays CEO and chairman down; and at making the deputy governor of the Bank of England uncomfortable.
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