The board has dismissed Antony Jenkins after three years and has begun a search for his replacement.
Barclays’ board is parting company with Antony Jenkins, who is being dismissed from the post of chief executive after three years to make way for a CEO that can “accelerate the pace of execution going forward,” according to bank officials.
While a search for Jenkins’ successor is underway, his temporary replacement is John McFarlane who will serve as executive chairman until a new chief executive is appointed.
Officials of Barclays PLC and Barclays Bank PLC add that the executive shuffle, which is subject to regulatory approval, will take effect on July 17 when McFarlane retires from FirstGroup. The executive shuffle will not delay the interim results announcement, which will happen on July 29, 2015, bank officials say.
“The non-executive directors led by Sir Michael Rake, deputy chairman and senior independent director, concluded that new leadership is required to accelerate the pace of execution going forward and that John McFarlane is ideally qualified in this respect until a permanent successor is appointed,” Barclays officials said in a prepared statement. The dismissal does not signal a change in strategy.
“The board recognizes the contribution made by Antony Jenkins as chief executive over the past three years in incredibly difficult circumstances for the group, and is extremely grateful to him in bringing the company to a much stronger position,” the Barclays statement continues. “The situation he inherited would have challenged anyone facing the same issues. This continued a period of achievement as head of Barclaycard and our retail and business banking businesses.”
As part of the transition, the members of the group executive committee will now report to McFarlane, “who will work particularly closely with Tushar Morzaria, group finance director,” according to Barclays.
“I reflected long and hard on the issue of group leadership and discussed this with each of the non-executive directors,” Rake says in a prepared statement. “Notwithstanding Antony’s significant achievements, it became clear to all of us that a new set of skills were required for the period ahead. This does not take away from our appreciation of Antony’s contribution at a critical time for the company.”
McFarlane said in a statement that he, respects and endorses “the position of the board in deciding that a change in leadership is required at this time. … We are leaving value on the table and a new approach is required. 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.”
McFarlane added that the bank needs to “accelerate revenue, costs and capital performance. We also need to become more externally focused and deal with the internal bureaucracy by becoming leaner and more agile. I have experienced good results in dealing with these matters elsewhere.”
In a prepared statement, Jenkins recalled the summer of 2012 when he was appointed. “It is easy to forget just how bad things were three years ago both for our industry and even more so for us,” Jenkins says. “I am very proud of the significant progress we have made since then. Our capital position is much stronger, our business model is more balanced, we are much more disciplined on cost management, we have made good progress in rebuilding our reputation and we are seen as a leader in the application of technology to our business. While the external environment has continued to be, and will remain, challenging the group now has the resilience to overcome these challenges.”
Jenkins said that he is most proud of a new culture at the bank, which has weathered its share of scandals since the Great Recession. Last year, U.K. and U.S. regulators hit Barclays with $62 million in fines. The SEC alleged that Barclays Capital failed to provide adequate compliance for a wealth management unit while in the U.K. the Financial Conduct Authority charged Barclays Bank with failing to protect clients’ custody assets in the investment banking division. Taken together, Barclays Capital and Barclays Bank had to pay a total of $61,913,453 in penalties to regulators for the two incidents.
“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,” Jenkins said.
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