Barclays: CEO to give up 2012 bonus

British bank Barclays, which has been plagued by the Libor rate-rigging scandal, announced on Friday that chief executive Antony Jenkins would forego his 2012 bonus after a "difficult" year at the group. "I am aware of considerable speculation about, and public interest in, the question of whether I will be awarded a bonus in respect of my performance in 2012," Jenkins said in a brief company statement. "To avoid further unnecessary public debate on this matter, I wish to make clear that I concluded early this week that I do not wish to be considered for a bonus award for 2012, and I have communicated that decision to the board. "The year just past was clearly a very difficult one for Barclays and its stakeholders, with multiple issues of our own making besetting the bank. I think it only right that I bear an appropriate degree of accountability for those matters, and I have concluded that it would be wrong for me to receive a bonus for 2012 given those circumstances." Earlier this month, Jenkins had ordered all Barclays employees to sign up to a new ethical code of conduct or quit, as he seeks to draw a line under last year's damaging Libor affair. Barclays fell into crisis last June when it was fined £290 million ($470 million, 363 million euros) by British and US regulators for attempted manipulation of Libor and Euribor interbank rates between 2005 and 2009. The scandal sparked the resignations of three Barclays senior board members, including ex-chief executive Bob Diamond. He was replaced by Jenkins, who was formerly head of retail and business banking. The Libor system was found to be open to abuse, with some traders lying about borrowing costs to boost trading positions or make their bank seem more secure.