When Anthony Browne accepted the job of Chief Executive Officer of the British Bankers' Association in June, it had responsibility for the world's most important benchmark interest rate. Following the Libor-rigging scandal, it is likely to be little more than just another lobby group.

Regulators and lawmakers are weighing whether to strip the lobby group of its role overseeing the setting of Libor, the reference for more than $500 trillion of securities, after a worldwide probe into at least a dozen banks showed some had tried to rig the rate. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and the Bank of England have both faulted the BBA for failing to fix Libor in 2008 when the Bank for International Settlements first raised concern that the benchmark was being manipulated.

“They haven't handled themselves at all well, in particular on Libor but also on a lot of wider banking issues,” said Ismail Erturk, a banking lecturer at Manchester Business School. “The BBA isn't up to the job of defending or promoting London's position as a financial center.”