Barclays’ investment banking arm is facing further upheaval following the departure of its current boss, Tom King.
King’s future had been the subject of City speculation since July when he had threatened to leave in a row over the future of the investment bank. Instead, Antony Jenkins, chief executive of the Barclays group, was forced out.
King intends to retire next month, according to reports, after running the investment banking business for less than two years.
The investment bank was built by Bob Diamond, who rose to become chief executive of the entire bank before leaving in the wake of the Libor rigging crisis in 2012. Once the powerhouse of the bank, the division has proved controversial because of the bonuses it pays to staff and is posing a problem for the bank as it tries to comply with new rules requiring a ringfence to be erected between high street and investment banking operations.
King, who is based in New York, is said to be leaving because of rules in the UK seeking to toughen up the regime of holding senior managers to account.
King’s retirement is the latest in a series of changes at the top since the appointment of Jes Staley as chief executive to replace Jenkins.
Staley has already named a new chief operating officer and new chief risk officer. Both these positions were filled by executives from JP Morgan, the Wall Street bank where Staley spent much of his career before leaving in 2013 to join New York hedge fund BlueMountain.
Paul Compton has been hired as group chief operating officer and CS Venkatakrishnan as chief risk officer, while Staley is also reported to have approached another former JP Morgan colleague – Blythe Masters – to run the investment bank. She is said to have turned him down.
When Staley took the helm of Barclays in December he was joining another former JP Morgan colleague – Tushar Morzaria, who joined as finance director in 2013.
It was Staley’s second attempt to join Barclays. He was on the brink of being offered the role when Jenkins was appointed in 2012. Jenkins, who was running Barclays’ retail bank, was regarded as a more politically appropriate choice than Staley because the position was being filled during the height of the Libor rigging scandal.
Staley is preparing to make his first presentation to the City on 1 March, when the bank’s 2015 results are due to be published. He has signalled that investment banking revenues fell 10% in the fourth quarter and started to cut 1,200 jobs in the division.
0 nhận xét:
Đăng nhận xét