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By Matt Scuffham
LONDON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Barclays was forced toname former heads Bob Diamond and John Varley, finance directorChris Lucas and other top executives and traders linked to aglobal rate-fixing probe, despite their calls for anonymity.
A UK judge ordered the bank to reveal their identities onThursday during a preliminary hearing for a British test case onthe mis-selling of interest rate swaps brought by a residentialcare home operator.
Guardian Care Homes alleges Barclays mis-sold interest ratehedging products based on Libor (London interbank offeredrate)in a case that is shining a light on those involved in thebank's interest rate-setting process..
"The cat is out of the bag," said Judge Julian Flaux, as he dismissed requests by 104 former and current Barclays staff foranonymity, citing the public interest.
Barclays was the first bank to be fined for trying to gameLibor, a central cog in the global financial system and abenchmark for around $550 trillion in contracts ranging frominterest rate derivatives to home loans and credit cards.
The judge told the court that the release of the names wasnecessary in order to have an "informed debate" during the case.He also said that documents lodged with the court ahead of thetrial, due to start in October, "showed some debate at a fairlyhigh level in the bank" about the setting of Libor.
The judge instructed Barclays to release more minutes fromboard meetings at which Libor was discussed than those alreadyprovided.
Addressing the court, Tim Lord, the lawyer representingGuardian Care Homes, cited documents which referred tocommunications from "the 31st floor" - the part of Barclaysheadquarters in Canary Wharf, London, occupied by seniorexecutives.
Barclays lost three of its most senior staff - ChiefExecutive Bob Diamond, Chairman Marcus Agius and Chief OperatingOfficer Jerry del Missier in the fallout from the Libor affair.
Other banks remain under investigation in a probe stretchingfrom the U.S. to Japan that is triggering lawsuits from thosealleging rate-rigging pushed up their loan costs.
Barclays released a list of staff on Thursday whose emailaccounts it had previously disclosed to regulators.
The list includes a subset of 24 people who have been namedin regulatory documents referring to Barclays' attempted rigging of Libor. That shorter list was not immediately available.
None of those named is necessarily implicated in anywrongdoing.
"There is a legitimate public interest in the true picturein relation to the manipulation of Libor by banks generally, notjust Barclays, being brought fully to light," Flaux said.
"In my judgment, fair and accurate media reporting of allaspects of Libor manipulation, including the involvement ofemployees and ex-employees of Barclays and their identity, is animportant aspect of the public obtaining that true picture."
NAME CALL
Those named include Rich Ricci, head of Barclays' investmentbank and former compliance head Stephen Morse, who was notifiedin 2008 about problems brewing, according to documents that weremade public last year. He left to lead the compliance departmentat Canada's Toronto-Dominion Bank.
Benoit de Vitry, the current treasurer who used to runcommodities and emerging markets, Ivan Ritossa, now retired, whoran currency and prime services business, money markets deskhead Mark Dearlove and former group treasurer Jon Stone werealso named.
Others include Ryan Reich, a 30-year-old former Barclaysswaps trader based in New York who was fired in 2010. U.S.prosecutors are investigating Reich's activities while atBarclays between August 2006 and March 2010, according to several people familiar with the situation.
Ritankar "Ronti" Pal, who oversaw desk trading since 2006,was also on the list. He recently left Barclays.
Other names included Eric Bommensath, a French bond traderwho became global head of fixed income and a member of thebank's executive committee, and Harry Harrison, a UK banker incharge of dollar-denominated fixed-income trading in New Yorkwho is now head of rates.
Lawyers welcomed the publication of the names.
"This shows the judges will not allow the banks to escapescrutiny," said Rich Eldridge of law firm Manches. "Borrowerswill be encouraged by the issue being given such importance thatit outweighs the risk of innocent people being named."
Barclays was fined $450 million by U.S. and UK authoritieslast June for allowing traders to try to rig Libor and its eurocousin Euribor and for low-balling rates during the 2007/08credit crunch.
Switzerland's UBS was fined $1.5 billon inDecember and Royal Bank of Scotland is expected to bepenalised shortly.
Barclays says it has fired five employees and disciplinedeight others after an internal investigation into how itsubmitted Libor rates. Many identified in that investigationhave also left the bank, it told lawmakers in November.
"This started as an alleged mis-selling case which the bankconsiders has no merit," Barclays said in a brief statement onThursday. "The addition of a claim based on what happened withLibor does not change the bank's view.
"The fact that someone's documents were reviewed by the bankduring its review of millions of documents does not mean thatsuch person was involved in any wrongdoing."
