Bob Diamond’s African adventures took a hit on Wednesday as he stepped down as chairman of the Atlas Mara group, which has hired Citigroup for a “strategic review” of the bank.
The former Barclays man, once dubbed the “unacceptable face of banking” by Lord Mandelson, will remain a non-executive director. Sources said Diamond was only ever intended to be a temporary chair but the shares have crashed 80% since floating in 2013.
His fellow board member Michael Wilkerson becomes executive chairman, with Omar Khan appointed chief financial officer as part of the top-level management shake-up. Atlas, which had big ambitions for banking in Africa, said it is examining “indications of interest” in some of its operations. It said Citigroup would run a review to “ensure that top five market leadership is practically achievable in the near term”.
Atlas Mara today said it would take a 35% stake in South Africa’s GroCapital. It already has stakes in Union Bank of Nigeria and other banks in Rwanda and Botswana. Shares in Atlas floated in London at $10. Today they moved up 4% to $1.72.
The troubles at Atlas come as some of Diamond’s former colleagues face a high court trial over a bailout of Barclays from Qatar back in 2008. The Serious Fraud Office alleges that top management, excluding Diamond, secretly paid £322 million to Qatar in return for its £11 billion investment in Barclays, a deal that avoided it falling into the hands of the UK government.
Diamond’s Atlas Merchant Capital, a side arm, owns most of Panmure Gordon in the UK, for which it paid £15.5 million last year.
Diamond himself remains a hugely rich man, with wealth estimated at towards £100 million. Last week he and wife Jennifer snapped up a $30 million (£23.1 billion) penthouse in Manhattan’s 520 Park Avenue tower, one of New York’s most exclusive addresses.
