Barclays bank fires chief executive Antony Jenkins
Scandal-scarred Barclays (BCS) fired chief executive Antony Jenkins Wednesday, saying "a new set of skills" was needed for the financial challenges facing the London-based banking giant.
Jenkins will leave next week, the bank said in the surprise announcement. He becomes the third European bank chief replaced this year after similar top office changes at Standard Chartered and Credit Suisse.
Jenkins will be succeeded on an interim basis by Barclays board chairman John McFarlane until a new chief executive is appointed, the bank said.
A search for the successor is underway, Barclays said, adding that the bank will announce its interim financial results on July 29 as previously scheduled.
Barclays shares were up 0.31% at $16.05 before U.S. financial markets opened Wednesday.
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.
Barclays board members were also concerned about the pace of cost-cutting at the bank and the size of its investment division, the BBC reported.
"Notwithstanding Antony's significant achievements, it became clear to all of us that a new set of skills were required for the period ahead," said Sir Michael Rake, the bank's deputy board chairman and senior independent director.
"This does not take away from our appreciation of Antony's contribution at a critical time for the company," added Rake, who joined Barclays board members in hailing Jenkins' efforts in "bringing the company to a much stronger position."
Jenkins, who was appointed as Barclays CEO in Aug. 2012, said he took the helm "at a particularly difficult time" for the bank and leaves the bank in a more secure position.
"Our capital position is much stronger, our business model is more balanced, we are much more disciplined on cost management, we have made good progress in rebuilding our reputation and we are seen as a leader in the application of technology to our business," Jenkins said in a statement issued with the bank's announcement.
Along with thanking Jenkins for his service, McFarlane signaled potential cost-cutting as he said Barclays needs to be "much more focused on what is attractive, what we are good at and where we are good at it."
"We therefore need to accelerate revenue, costs and capital performance," said Jenkins. "We also need to become more externally focused and deal with the internal bureaucracy by becoming leaner and more agile."
Although Barclays has moved to change its business, the bank's financial results have been affected by multi-million-dollar settlements.
In March, Barclays reported a net loss for 2014 and increased its provision for a looming foreign-exchange settlement to $1.92 billion.
Two months later, Barclays was among five major banks that agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and pay more than $5.5 billion in collective penalties to settle charges their traders manipulated the world's foreign-exchange market to boost their own profits.
Barclays portion of the settlement included a $60 million penalty as the bank acknowledged its foreign-exchange practices violated terms of a $453 million settlement reached in 2012 over rate-rigging of Libor and another financial benchmark.
However, New York's Department of Financial Services is continuing to investigate whether electronic systems used in Barclays' foreign-exchange trading and foreign-exchange-related products were responsible for additional foreign-exchange market abuses.
Contributing: Caroline Mortimer - The Independent