Barclays close to naming Jes Staley as its new chief executive

Barclays and other British banks were also weighed down by multibillion-pound bills over consumer-payment-protection insurance that hindered their ability to quickly shed unwanted assets.

AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said: “Investment banks are generally a good business for employees and a bad one for shareholders, rather like football clubs”.

There are many similarities between James E Staley and Robert E Diamond: after long careers in investment banking, both have acquired the usual trappings of wealth; in Staley’s case, a custom-made 90ft yacht named Bequia, after the Caribbean island on which he spent his honeymoon. Staley is leading the race among the others who have been shortlisted for CEO position at Barclays. People familiar with the CEO selection process said Mr. McFarlane considered it crucial to bring someone in who had strong investment-banking experience and could help put to rest concerns around strategy in that area.

Hiring an investment banker is being seen by some analysts as a prelude to making a push back into that industry, one which the last holder of the top job, Antony Jenkins, was backing away from. This makes the choice of Barclays very clear that risk-reward trade-off in adverse conditions. He fell out with new chairman John McFarlane with his insistence on reviving the bank’s High Street and customer focus. Farlane has been exploring several options considering potential candidates internally and externally. Could Mr Staley’s attraction to Barclays be his potential to serve as a stop gap while grooming his youthful former colleague Tushar Morzaria, Barclays incumbent finance director?

The news comes after the previous CEO Antony Jenkins was sacked in July after losing boardroom support amidst a bank turnaround plan.

Staley ran JPMorgan’s investment bank and asset management business and had been at the bank for 34 years before leaving in early 2013 to join BlueMountain. He joined Blue Mountain Capital and is continuing till date. I’m sure Staley will face an imperative to improve the investment bank’s returns but I’ll eat my proverbial hat if he’s given more capital to play with and is allowed to grow RWAs.

OK, Staley hasn’t been formally appointed but I gather he’s accepted the job and it now goes to regulatory approval so it’s all but a done deal …

“Getting Jes in would mean moving the bank more towards an investment bank”.

Critics warned it was reverting to the “fast buck” culture cultivated by disgraced former boss Bob Diamond, who built Barclays investment bank into a major force before he was forced to resign in 2012. Adding to this, the changes in regulation were also impacting trading activity.