Barclays Close to Naming BlueMountain’s Staley as CEO

Barclays is close to appointing U.S. investment banker Jes Staley as its new chief executive following the sacking of Antony Jenkins in July.

The appointment which was first reported by the FT is expected to be announced in the next two weeks, it said citing two people familiar with the matter. “Another investment banker. Another Diamond?” “This, we think, would probably please the regulators on both sides of the pond – and it would then make those sum-of-the-parts valuations for Barclays more worthwhile”. Staley ran JPMorgan’s investment bank and asset management business.

Sandy Chen, analyst at the broker Cenkos, said it could be an opportunity to restructure Barclays. At his last job as chair of Aviva PLC Mr. McFarlane used the same playbook-firing the CEO and taking executive control of the British insurer.

Jamie Dimon’s tendency to see off the top contenders for his job running JPMorgan is proving useful for London’s troubled banking giants.

Boston-born Staley, 58, worked JPMorgan’s expense lender and possession administration company and appeared to be inside the lender for 34 ages before you leave in in the beginning of 2013 to participate with BlueMountain.

The previous CEO Anthony Jenkins was sacked in July.

McFarlane has pledged to step up the pace of his overhaul and press on with cost cuts and divestitures to bolster earnings.

McFarlane has said the firm’s next CEO must have experience in that type of business because Jenkins “found it hard to deal with” shrinking the division.

Sources confirmed to the BBC that Barclays board members had agreed to Mr Staley’s new role with the British banking group. Staley was a “strong operator at JPMorgan” and the focus at Barclays will be on raising profitability, Chubak said.