Jenkins Named Barclays CEO

Barclays has appointed Antony Jenkins as its new CEO, effective immediately.

The announcement came less than two months after predecessor Bob Diamond stepped down amid the ongoing scandal surrounding the manipulation of the Libor interest rate. Jenkins, who has been a member of the bank's Group Executive Committee since 2009, was CEO of Barclays' retail and business banking (RBB) business.

In addition to the Libor problems, Jenkins will have to deal with a newly announced investigation by the UK's Serious Fraud Office into payments made by the bank to Qatar Holdings related to Qatar's capital injection into Barclays in 2008, which staved off a state bailout.

"We have made serious mistakes in recent years and clearly failed to keep pace with our stakeholders' expectations," says Jenkins. "We have an obligation to all of those stakeholders─customers, clients, shareholders, colleagues and broader society─and a unique opportunity to restore Barclays reputation by making it the go-to bank in all of our chosen markets. That journey will take time, we have much to do, and I look forward to getting started immediately."

Adds outgoing chairman Marcus Agius: "The Board ensured that the process to select the new Chief Executive was both rigorous and thorough. Antony stood out among a very competitive field of internal and external candidates because of his excellent track record transforming Barclaycard and Retail and Business Banking; his intimate knowledge of Barclays portfolio garnered over three years on the Group Executive Committee; his role in the development of the bank's strategy; and his future vision for Barclays and plan to realize it."