Moody's puts Barclays on negative watch over Libor scandal resignations "The shareholder and political pressures on Barclays, which resulted in the resignation of the bank's chief executive, chief operating officer ... and the stated intention of the chairman to resign, could lead to broader pressure on the bank to shift its business model away from investment banking and reform perceived failures in its business culture," it said. The same day, Jerry del Missier, the chief operating officer, resigned after it emerged he "misunderstood" a conversation between Mr Diamond and Paul Tucker, the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, and told staff that they had been instructed by the Bank to deliberately lie about their Libor submissions. On Monday, Marcus Agius, the chairman, announced his intention to retire over the scandal, saying "the buck stops with me." He will stay on to oversee the appointment of a new chief executive. Moody's said Barclays could struggle to find a suitable candidate to replace Mr Diamond. "The bank could be challenged to replace the three senior staff and in particular find a new CEO who not only has a sufficient understanding of the investment banking business to run Barclays, but also has the credibility and ability to swiftly address the weaknesses that the Libor incident revealed and stakeholders' perceptions of the investment bank," the agency said. The C-/ baa2 stand-alone bank financial strength rating as well as the A2 long-term and Prime-1 short-term debt ratings remain unchanged. The A2 senior debt and deposit rating already has a negative outlook due to Moody's expectation that the UK government will reduce its support for large UK banks over the medium term. Barclays shares were flat in early trading.