Barclays on Jes Staley appointment: “We haven’t hired a new chief executive yet”
Almost 24 hours after it was first hinted at, Barclays has finally issued a statement – insisting it hasn't hired Jes Staley as its new chief executive.
In a stock market notification today, it said the process of hiring a new boss "has not yet concluded", adding that the company "will provide a further update once that is complete".
It was reported last night that the company was close to appointing former JP Morgan banker Staley, after former chief executive Antony Jenkins was ousted in July.
The Financial Times suggested Staley was likely to be announced as the new boss "within the next two weeks".
Barclays is set to publish its third-quarter results on 29 October.
John McFarlane, Barclays’ chairman, has been acting chief executive of the bank since sacking its former chief exeuctive Antony Jenkins in July. At the time, the bank’s board said that it was looking for a leader with a “new set of skills”.
Jenkins had previously run Barclays’s retail bank and Barclaycard, but had little investment banking experience.
Sandy Chen, a banks analyst at Cenkos, said: “Of course John McFarlane would choose a former head of investment banking at JP Morgan,” adding that Staley would be “well-placed and qualified to decide what to do with the investment banking division”.
David Buik from Panmure Gordon agreed, saying McFarlane has “worked out that without a pretty good knowledge of investment banking they’ll never be able to deliver shareholder value”.
“I see this as a very positive appointment,” he added.
Shares in the bank fell 2.01 per cent yesterday, closing at 251.40p per share.