Financial Business Review: Barclays Turns SOAP OPERA, JPMorgan In Another PROBE

The Libor Scandal in the U.K. becomes EastEnders on Tuesday, as Bob Diamond reverses his vow to “fight back” and also to spill possibly embarrassing nuggets concerning regulators, by resigning as Barclays’ (NYSE:BCS) CEO and director, with immediate effect. At the same time, outgoing Chairman Marcus Agius, who resigned as Chairman Monday, will now (Tuesday) serve as full-time Chairman, and will also lead the search for a new CEO. Observers are naturally wondering why the events have turned on themselves, and a source commented that it was “A case of the governor getting his way by the inflection of his eyebrows,” meaning that it was the Bank of England’s Governor King’s way of hinting that Bob Diamond needed to be sacked as CEO of Barclays. Perhaps Diamond wasn’t just blowing smoke when he implied that he ‘knows where the bodies are buried’?

Don’t Miss: Barclays Chief Quick to EXIT As Probe Deepens.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has twice subpoenaed JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) as it investigates whether the bank used certain bidding strategies in order to extract higher energy prices in California and several markets in the Midwest. The contentious issue at this point is to see if JPMorgan can keep secret key emails that it considers privileged hidden.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) is purchasing as much as $250 million worth of foreclosed single-family homes with the intention of renting them out, say sources. The move is part of a trend, in which well-heeled investors are making a major asset class out of what used to be a cottage industry by much smaller entrepreneurs.

Don’t Miss: Here are the STUDS and DUDS of the DOW in 2012.

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