Tough job awaits new Barclays boss

Picture: Olivia Harris

Picture: Olivia Harris

Published Jul 21, 2015

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London - Were Barclays shareholders sighing “if only...” when they saw Bill Winters' first big announcement as the chief executive of Standard Chartered? You could hardly blame them if they were. Officially the management shake-up he unveiled at the emerging markets-focused bank was about “simplification”. Aren't they all? In reality it's about making it quite clear that StanChart is now the bank of Bill.

Many have suggested that he'd be the ideal man to fix Barclays. He ticks all the right boxes for running a global bank and seemed to be the heir apparent at JP Morgan before he was hustled out. But would he have been prepared to work under the chairmanship of John McFarlane at Barclays? More to the point, would any banker of similar standing?

It now looks as if Antony Jenkins, the Barclays chief executive whose departure McFarlane engineered, may only be the first of 30 000 people seeking pastures new as the latter gets his teeth into a bank he'll be running while the search for a new boss is conducted.

Whoever that is will probably have to get used to McFarlane breathing down their neck. They may struggle to stamp their authority on Barclays the way Winters is stamping his authority on Standard Chartered. When they arrive they will have to see through a cost-cutting and reform programme that has already been set in train by McFarlane.

This is why the bookies' decision that Barclays' finance director Tushar Morzaria is favourite to get the top job in due course looks wise. An alumnus of JP Morgan like Winters, he has the required experience, but more importantly he is already working closely with McFarlane having, crucially, established a rapport with him. That is probably more important than any of the business baubles on his CV.

The situation at StanChart is very different, with Sir John Peace, the incumbent chairman, set to depart next year. If McFarlane could be criticised for seeking to do too much from the chairman's seat, Sir John's sin was doing too little.

Long term, the chairman striking a better balance at both banks will ultimately prove crucial to their successes.

The Independent

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