Barclays announced it was conducting a search for Mr Jenkins’ successor after Non-Executive Directors led by Sir Michael Rake, Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director, concluded that new leadership was required to accelerate the pace of execution going forward.
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The shakeup comes amid investigations and fines of Britain’s largest bank over its involvement in scandals over foreign exchange currency market manipulation and rigging of the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) – the benchmark used to set rates on trillions of dollars in mortgages, credit cards and loans.
McFarlane will need to quickly address some major challenges including a requirement for the bank to separate its United Kingdom retail business from riskier activities to meet new regulations. Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) and Standard Chartered (STAN.L) also named new leaders amid investor disquiet over low share prices and stubbornly high costs.
Shares in Barclays jumped 3% after the announcement.
Mr McFarlane said Barclays was “leaving value on the table and a new approach is required”.
And he said: “We have 375 management committees at Barclays”.
Warning signs were evident when McFarlane highlighted the poor performance of Barclays shares in a letter to shareholders after joining the bank in April. They said in a note that the decision will only prove good if it acts as a way for an increased improvement in financial performance of Barclays.
“It’s the best possible public message that we could have wished for”.
In a statment, Barclays said: “The Board recognises the contribution made by Antony Jenkins as Chief Executive over the past three years in incredibly hard circumstances for the Group, and is extremely grateful to him in bringing the company to a much stronger position”.
He also emphasized the importance of the investment bank in Barclays’ strategy, seeming to rule out any chance of Barclays exiting it altogether.
Industry sources say the pair had failed to develop a rapport.
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Another internal candidate could be Jonathan Moulds, the ex- Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC.N) executive who was appointed to the newly created role of chief operating officer in January.
