Barclays: Compliance chief resigns due to stress

British bank Barclays said Wednesday that compliance chief and ex-regulator Hector Sants has resigned from the scandal-hit lender due to stress. "Hector Sants has been on sick leave since the beginning of October, suffering from stress and exhaustion," said a statement from Barclays, which was plagued last year by the Libor rate-rigging scandal. "He has concluded that he will not be able to return to work in the near term. Consequently he has decided to resign from Barclays and not return from sick leave." Sants, 57, joined Barclays just ten months ago as head of compliance, government and regulatory relations at the scandal-hit bank. He leaves with immediate effect. He had previously been head of the Financial Services Authority regulator in the run-up to and throughout the global financial crisis, from 2007 to 2012. Although only with us for ten months, he has made significant progress towards creating a world class compliance function at Barclays and in improving our relationships with regulators and governments," said Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins. "I know my colleagues will join me in expressing our appreciation to Hector, as well as wishing him a speedy recovery." Barclays added on Tuesday that Shaygan Kheradpir, Chief Operations and Technology Officer, was also leaving Barclays to take on a role as chief executive for a US-based company. The group will conduct an internal and external search to replace the pair. The Libor scandal erupted last year when Barclays was fined £290 million by British and US regulators for attempted manipulation of interbank rates between 2005 and 2009.