Bank boss denies using Cayman for tax evasion

(CNS): The Chief Executive Officer of Barclays Robert Diamond has told UK parliamentarians that the bank doesn’t evade taxes and pledged to examine the number of offshore operations it has, according to reports in the international media. “Barclays is not evading taxes,” Diamond told a Treasury Committee hearing at the House of Commons in London on Tuesday. “We are complying with the spirit and the letter of the law.” Diamond was answering questions from parliamentarians who suggested that the bank had more than 300 companies operating in the Cayman Islands, the Channel Islands and other “known tax havens.”

Barclays paid 2 billion pounds ($3.1 billion) in UK tax last year, said Diamond. He said he would write to the committee later to show what percentage of that payment was payroll tax. Diamond also told the committee it was time to stop apologizing for the credit crisis as the industry had already offered its regrets. He said the “period of remorse and apology” needed to end so that banks could rebuild confidence.

Taxpayers provided about 1 trillion pounds ($1.56 trillion) to assist banks during the financial crisis, while the independent Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that the resultant spending cuts will cost the jobs of more than 300,000 government employees.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has told the British parliament that Barclays should cut Diamond’s 2010 bonus and that all payouts should be lower than a year earlier. Banks will pay more tax and lower bonuses, while doing more lending, Prime Minister David Cameron also told the House of Commons.