YouGovStone ‘influentials’ panel unanimously believe Barclays executives were right to resign following the LIBOR scandal, and identify a deeper problem of ethics in the banking industry.

YouGovStone interviewed 829 members of its ThinkTank of 4000+ influential Britons between 05/07/2012 and 16/07/2012, with panellists including those drawn from politics, business, media, academia, NGOs, and the public sector.

Immediately following the resignation of Barclays CEO Bob Diamond, COO Jerry del Missier and chairman Marcus Agius on the 2nd of July, the influentials were asked whether the senior management made the right choice in responding in this manner. 73% of respondents strongly agreed and another 20% tended to agree that the three were right to resign. This holds for respondents in all the different sectors, with only slight variations – ranging from 90% of those respondents working in business agreeing, to 100% of those working in health.

Respondents however are of the opinion that this incident was not an isolated problem affecting just Barclays. The entire banking industry is seen as suffering from a lack of ethics. So 93% agree that ‘The Barclays interest rates scandal is symptomatic of a widespread problem of ethics in the UK banking industry’.  And the same proportion believes that ‘There is a widespread global problem of ethics in the banking industry.’ Again these figures do not vary much between the different sectors, with the ThinkTank nearly unanimous in identifying this problem.
 

On the 2nd of July, the Prime Minister announced that there would be a parliamentary review of the banking sector. However many of the influentials do not think that this is sufficient action. Although 32% believe that there should be a parliamentary inquiry into the wider culture of the banking industry, a majority (55%) prefer there to be a judge-led inquiry. Those working in the media were particularly likely to call for a judge-led inquiry, with 62% choosing this option. Only 13% of respondents did not think an inquiry is necessary.

The figures are similar when respondents were asked about whether there should be an inquiry specifically into the LIBOR-fixing scandal at Barclays. Again, a third believed there should be a parliamentary inquiry, but 58% felt a judge-led inquiry was necessary.

YouGovStone now regularly surveys MPs, business leaders and other groups of high level decision makers in the UK and internationally. If your organisation needs to know what these individuals think, please contact Oliver Rowe, YouGovStone's Research Director on +44 (0)207 012 6032 or email oliver.rowe@yougovstone.com