Revamp rocks Barclays bank
BARCLAYS announced the surprise departure of the head of its global retail and commercial banking (GRCB) division yesterday in a management shake-up that will boost the empire overseen by the group’s president Bob Diamond.
Barclays said it was splitting up GRCB and that its boss Frits Seegers had resigned as a director and would leave the bank after a handover period. Diamond will head a new corporate and investment banking group, adding commercial banking to the Barclays Capital and Barclays Wealth units he already heads.
Seegers, a 50-year-old Dutchman, joined Barclays in 2006 as chief executive of GRCB. Having earned £2m in 2007, including a bonus and a basic salary of £700,000, he is believed to be receiving a £3m payoff.
Antony Jenkins will head a new unit called global retail banking, including UK retail banking, Barclaycard and retail operations in Europe and emerging markets.
Deanna Oppenheimer, head of UK retail banking, becomes vice chair of global retail banking and Valerie Soranno Keating replaces Jenkins as chief executive of Barclaycard.
Tom Kalaris and Maria Ramos, chief executive of South African subsidiary Absa, will join Jenkinson on the bank’s executive committee under the plans. Mark Harding, group general counsel, Robert Le Blanc, chief risk officer and Cathy Turner, group human resources director, will join the executive committee. Jerry del Missier and Rich Ricci become co-chief executives of the corporate and investment bank.
The UK’s second biggest bank also said its pre-tax profit in the third quarter was consistent with the run rate for the first half of the year. It releases results on 10 November.