LONDON — Barclays Chief Executive Bob Diamond has quit his job, the latest scalp in a financial markets scandal that has also seen the bank’s chairman announce his intention to resign and sown the seeds for another investigation into Britain’s banking sector.

The bank said today that Chairman Marcus Agius would lead the search for a successor to Diamond, who has resigned with immediate effect. Agius still intends to stand down once a new chairman has been chosen.

Barclays’ management has come under fire since the bank was fined $453 million last week by U.S. and British regulators for submitting false reports on interbank borrowing rates between 2005 and 2009. Much of that activity originated from traders in Barclays Capital, the investment banking division which Diamond headed.

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office said that it would decide within a month whether to pursue criminal charges in the case. The government, which has come under pressure to initiate a judge-led inquiry into the sector, has announced a parliamentary committee to investigate what went on and report by the end of the year.

“The external pressure placed on Barclays has reached a level that risks damaging the franchise — I cannot let that happen,” Diamond said. “I am deeply disappointed that the impression created by the events announced last week about what Barclays and its people stand for could not be further from the truth.”

As well as facing intense media pressure, Diamond has seen growing calls for his resignation from the political world. Both Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband called for Diamond, a 60-year-old American, to stand down.