Barclays Chief Executive Antony Jenkins to Leave Bank

LONDON (AP) ” Barclays PLC has fired chief executive Antony Jenkins, concluding he wasn’t moving quickly enough to put past scandals behind the bank and increase profits.

McFarlane will take over as executive chairman while the lender finds a permanent successor to Jenkins, Barclays said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The board recognizes the contribution made by Antony Jenkins as chief executive over the past three years in incredibly…”

“Most of all, I am proud that we have defined our culture through a common set of values for the group and that the progress we have made and the tough decisions we have needed to take have all been achieved by applying these values and by focusing on the needs of all our stakeholders”.

The bank appointed Mr Jenkins as group chief executive in August 2012.

A search for Jenkins’s successor is under way.

The bank said the change of leadership would not equate to a change in strategy at the bank.

The surprise move comes weeks after John McFarlane took over as chairman of the bank and signalled his intention to speed up its turnaround plan.

He added: “I am very proud of the significant progress we have made since then”.

He added that with his “fresh perspective” he could see that Barclays has first-class retail, commercial and investment banking businesses.

In a statement Jenkins said: “It is easy to forget just how bad things were three years ago both for our industry and even more so for us. 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”.

It is thought that Sir Mike wants Barclays to retain its global presence as a major investment bank whilst Mr Jenkins felt it should be cut back.

Subject to regulatory approval the change will come fully into effect on 17 July 2015 when John retires from FirstGroup.