Barclays’ second boss in a week exits bank: Sir Mike Rake follows Antony Jenkins as chairman John “Mack the Knife” McFarlane wields axe

Barclays deputy chairman Sir Mike Rake has become the second casualty of newly-installed chairman John McFarlane in a week, after he confirmed plans to leave the bank “by the end of 2015” yesterday – which leaves the rest of the Barclays board looking decidedly exposed, analysts have suggested.

 

BT chairman and Confederation of British Industry president Rake will join payments processing company Worldpay at the beginning of September, he told City A.M. – stepping down after nine years on Barclays’ board.

 

McFarlane, nicknamed “Mack the Knife” after his take-no-prisoners attitude to hiring and firing in previous roles at Aviva and Citi, dramatically ousted Barclays’ chief executive, Antony Jenkins, last week. At the time he said a “new approach is required”.

 

Another scalp at the top leaves Barclays’ top tier – both executive and non-executive – vulnerable, warned Gary Greenwood, a UK banks analyst at Shore Capital. 

 

“[McFarlane] will want results and if he doesn’t get results then people will need to be replaced,” he said. “We’ve already seen that with Antony Jenkins. You set your stall out: you get rid of the guy at the top first and everybody knows you’re not messing.”

 

“If all these people who are there at Barclays now don’t deliver, they will be changed,” agreed David Buik, a market commentator at Panmure Gordon. 

 

“This bloke makes no mistakes. He is as tough as teak. 

 

“[Rake] is the quintessential chairman, a safe pair of hands – but the last thing McFarlane wants is a safe pair of hands.”