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Barclays Plc’s top three executives, one of them a Canadian, resigned amid a deepening dispute about whether the Bank of England pushed the lender to submit artificially low Libor rates during the financial crisis.

Robert Diamond stepped down Tuesday as chief executive of Britain’s second-biggest bank and Canadian Jerry Del Missier quit as chief operating officer, London-based Barclays said in a statement. Chairman Marcus Agius, 65, will quit once he has found a replacement for Diamond, who has worked at the bank for the past 16 years and oversaw its investment banking expansion.

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Del Missier, who is a graduate of Queen’s University, formerly worked at Bank of Nova Scotia.

Del Missier has for years been a key lieutenant of Diamond, helping him build up the Barclays Capital investment bank. He was appointed COO last month.

On a conference call Tuesday outgoing chairman Agius said Del Missier was the most senior executive to give instructions to lower Libor rates.