Britain’s FTSE led higher by Barclays after CEO Jenkins goes

The move came less than three months after John McFarlane replaced Sir David Walker as Barclays’ chairman, and reflected the impatience of Barclays directors at the pace of the bank’s transformation. “We are cumbersome”.

While it continues to own a significant business in France, the process to dispose of Barclays’ operations in Italy and Portugal, which comprise 90 and 85 branches respectively, has emerged just hours after the bank sacked Mr Jenkins, saying it required a different set of leadership skills for the next phase of its restructuring.

“While a period of uncertainty until a successor is found would usually be a negative, the positive share price reaction suggests optimism that the replacement can better satisfy the board on the financial performance and strategic change front”, said Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.

“McFarlane is quite a dominant character and Jenkins is stubborn and doesn’t play the internal game so I can well understand why they haven’t hit it off. The new CEO will have to be more compliant”, one Barclays’ shareholder told Reuters.

A Barclays bank office at Canary Wharf in London. “The chairman comes with a good reputation and I would back him in his decision”, said David Smith, co-manager of Henderson High Income fund, which has a stake in Barclays.

But it is now time for a new person at the top.

At Aviva McFarlane played a central role in the removal of Chief Executive Andrew Moss, stepping in to take over the day-to-day running of the business after delivering a damning assessment of Moss’s five years in charge.

Mr McFarlane met his senior managers this week, and said they had already “pushed the button for growth” on a number of areas across the bank’s commercial and investment banking operations.

Although shares in Barclays have underperformed rivals since Jenkins’ appointment in August 2012, he was expected by many analysts to be given longer to implement a turnaround strategy involving the divestment of non-core assets, improving returns and cutting costs.

“As a group, if we aspire to bring shareholder returns forward, we need to be much more focused on what is attractive, what we are good at, and where we are good at it”.