Source:
https://scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/1834572/british-bank-barclays-axes-ceo-jenkins
Business/ Banking & Finance

British bank Barclays axes CEO Jenkins

Antony Jenkins lasted three years as Barclays' chief executive. Photo: Reuters

British bank Barclays has ousted chief executive Antony Jenkins after three years in the post, saying on Wednesday it had decided new blood would help accelerate strategic change and boost shareholder returns.

The surprise ouster comes just three months after John McFarlane took over as chairman and signalled his intention to speed up its turnaround plan. McFarlane will assume executive duties until a permanent successor is appointed.

Independent directors of Barclays had been concerned about Jenkins’ style of leadership for some time and he had spoken to Jenkins last week about his future, McFarlane said on a conference call. His exit was then confirmed at a board meeting late on Tuesday.

McFarlane added that under Jenkins, shareholder value creation had been pushed “too far into the future”. He said the bank was in no rush to appoint a successor and the most important thing was to find the right person, adding it would be good to find someone familiar with investment banking.

Barclays said Jenkins, promoted from head of retail at Barclays in 2012 after the departure of Bob Diamond following a record fine over the bank’s manipulation of benchmark Libor interest rates, would receive a year’s salary of £1.1 million (HK$13.1 million).

He would also get £950,000 worth of shares, a pension allowance of £363,000 and other benefits, and will remain eligible for a pro-rata performance bonus for the current year.

McFarlane, appointed from insurer Aviva having overseen a radical turnaround there, faces a host of challenges as the British bank sector grapples with regulatory pressures such as a demand to separate domestic retail banking operations from riskier investment banking operations.