The new chairman of Barclays Bank says he'll undertake a top-to-bottomreview of the embattled business, telling a British newspaper that he isn'twedded to any of his predecessor's policies.
Asked if he was committed to the current business plan of Barclays, which isreeling from a massive rate-fixing scandal, David Walker told The SundayTelegraph that he wasn't "committed to anything except getting itright."
Walker said he wanted to review the company's business plan, but didn't want tosound "threatening."
Walker is due to replace Marcus Agius, who offered his resignation last monthfollowing the imposition of a $453 million fine for manipulating the criticalLondon interbank offered rate, or LIBOR, which is used to calculate borrowingcosts for hundreds of trillions of dollars in loans and investments such asbonds, auto loans and derivatives.
The scandal has damaged the bank's reputation and led to a slew of resignations— most publically that of former Chief Executive Bob Diamond. Regulators arestill weighing whether to bring criminal charges against those involved.
Market-watchers had speculated that the scandal would prompt Barclays to pareback its investment banking arm, Barclays Capital. But Walker, who takes overfrom Agius on Nov. 1, seemed cool to the idea, telling the Telegraph he wantedto remain a "universal bank."
But Walker did seem to suggest changes in the way the retail end of the bankworks, saying "in principle" he was in favor of charging customersfor bank accounts.
Most British banks offer users free standard checking accounts, but Walker saidthat created an incentive for banks to find more creative — and riskier — waysto extract money from customers. British banks have become embroiled in aseries of scandals over interest rate swaps for small businesses andmis-selling payment protection insurance to consumers.
Such were "the consequence of not charging for bank accounts," saidWalker. "Because banks are not charging, it drives them inexorably intothis sort of position."