Barclays promotes from within to fill CEO role

Under-fire banking giant Barclays has promoted from within to fill its vacant Chief Executive Officer position, moving up Antony Jenkins, currently head of the Barclays Retail and Banking Business.

Jenkins, who takes over with immediate effect, has been a member of the Group Executive Committee of Barclays since 2009 and has been with the company for nearly 30 years.

His role as Chief Executive Officer for the Retail and Banking Business included responsibility for retail banking in Barclays Africa and Barclays subsidiary Absa, and he also represented Barclays as a nonexecutive Director on the Board of Absa Group Limited and Absa Bank Limited.

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Marcus Agius, who is set to be replaced as Barclays Chairman at the beginning of next month by Sir David Walker, said that the board ensured that the process to select the new Chief Executive was "both rigorous and thorough."

"Antony stood out among a very competitive field of internal and external candidates because of his excellent track record transforming Barclaycard and Retail and Business Banking; his intimate knowledge of Barclays portfolio garnered over three years on the Group Executive Committee; his role in the development of the bank's strategy; and his future vision for Barclays and plan to realise it," Agius added.

Sir David Walker, Barclays Chairman-elect, said "it was clear that Antony was the outstanding choice" among a very strong field of candidates. "His track record, familiarity with the group and vision for the future are all highly compelling," Walker said.

Antony Jenkins talked up the company's attributes but also admitted the bank had "made serious mistakes in recent years and clearly failed to keep pace with our stakeholders' expectations."

The changes at the top of Barclays have taken place quickly by City standards since the scalps of Agius and former Chief Executive Officer Bob Diamond were claimed in the wake of the bank's involvement in the LIBOR-fixing scandal.

JH