Barclays
may not pick new CEO until spring 2016
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[July 10, 2015]
By Steve Slater and Olivia Oran
LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - British bank
Barclays may not pick its next chief executive until early next year,
potentially leaving new Chairman John McFarlane in charge for at least
eight months.
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McFarlane fired CEO Antony Jenkins on Wednesday and said he was in
no rush to name a successor and will conduct a global search of
internal and external candidates.
He told staff the appointment may not take place until the spring,
according to comments made at an employee meeting, people familiar
with the matter told Reuters.
The new chief executive could be named at the tail end of this year
but it was more likely to be in February or March, another person
familiar with the matter said.
Barclays is the fourth major European bank to change CEO this year,
following Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and Standard Chartered as
investors grow impatient with low share prices and stubbornly high
costs.
McFarlane said this week that the market for bank bosses had been
"well trawled" as a consequence.
"We're not going to move quickly on this," he told reporters on a
conference call after the ousting of Jenkins.
"These things take time. It gives time for the internal people to
show what they can do and it gives time to identify thoroughly the
(external) people that haven't been identified in other searches,"
he added.
Barclays Finance Director Tushar Morzaria is the favorite to succeed
Jenkins. If he is chosen McFarlane may want to work alongside
Morzaria as executive chairman for a substantial period to speed up
the bank's turnaround plan.
Other candidates could include Morgan Stanley <MS.N> executive Colm
Kelleher or Australia and New Zealand Bank CEO Mike Smith, industry
sources said.
If Barclays opts for an external candidate it could take up to a
year for the new recruit to take the reins, depending on the
conditions of their current contract.
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McFarlane, who became Barclays chairman in April, is assuming
executive duties until a permanent successor is in place -- similar
to what he did at UK insurer Aviva in 2012. On that occasion
he was executive chairman for eight months.
One of the key tasks will be to accelerate changes to Barclays'
investment bank, expected to be further slimmed down to cut costs
and improve profitability.
The bank played down a report in Britain's Times newspaper that
investment bank head boss Tom King would leave the bank by next
March.
"Tom King is fully committed to leading the investment bank and on
the implementation of the operational plan agreed with the board
just two weeks ago. There are no plans in regards to Mr. King's
departure from Barclays," a spokeswoman said on Friday.
King had considered retiring early after a row last month with
Jenkins over the scale of cuts in the investment bank, but was
persuaded to stay by McFarlane, a source said previously.
(Editing by Keith Weir)
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