Barclays has appointed its head of retail and business banking Antony Jenkins as its new chief executive, replacing Bob Diamond who was forced out by the Libor rate fixing scandal in July.
Antony Jenkins, the new chief executive of Barclays, is a career banker, having started as a graduate recruit at the bank's South Kensington branch almost 30 years ago. Unlike his predecessor Bob Diamond, however, Jenkins comes from the "safer" retail side of the industry rather than buccaneering investment banking that has caused Barclays so much trouble. He is the very antithesis of the brash American – a mild-mannered Brit.
The 51-year-old marathon runner has been described as the "nice guy" of banking, and as "very family focused". He is married with two children.
Jenkins, who comes from Stoke-on-Trent, had until now been in charge of Barclays' retail and business banking, including its retail business in Africa, and joined the bank's executive committee in November 2009. Before that, he headed up Barclaycard between 2006 and 2009, having rejoined the bank from Citigroup. He also served on the board of Visa Europe between 2008 and 2011.
He has a masters in PPE from Oxford and an MBA from the Cranfield Institute of Technology, and started his career in finance in 1983 when he completed the Barclays management development programme. He went on to hold various roles in retail and corporate banking. He moved to Citigroup in 1989, working for the American bank in London and New York.
In many senses, he is everything his flashier predecessor Bob Diamond is not. He is from Manchester, likes running marathons and has never handed the Premier League trophy to John Terry.
Although colleagues warn his gentler approach should not be confused with easy-going.
When took over a head of Barclaycard in January 2006 – where he led a revival in its fortunes – he found "significant challenges" and had to rebuild from business "from the ground up", including change the senior management.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph in 2009 when he became chief executive of retail banking, he illustrated his style by recollecting "a meeting with a colleague and a vendor who had let us down".
"I was fairly forthright in that interaction. I expressed calmly why we were disappointed and what the vendor needed to do if they wanted to maintain a relationship with us," he said.
"After the meeting I told my colleague he had handled it well. He said to me: 'Yes, you did too, but you were a little scary.' What that means is you don't have to raise your voice or thump the table to get your point across. When you have a very measured style, you don't need to shout. You just need to make your point a little more directly and people notice."
When he took over at the retail bank, the then chief executive John Varley was looking to reposition Barclays by breaking up the retail banking division which included commercial banking.
The commercial bank moved, as corporate banking, to Bob Diamond's empire to be shackled with the investment bank. The retail bank, with its 38m customers and 60,000 staff, fell to Mr Jenkins.
While he does not have an investment banking background, but this has been seen as a strength with public anger at banks still strong after bailouts, mis-selling scandals and excessive remuneration.
Kamal Ahmed, Business Editor of the Sunday Telegraph, commented earlier this month: "'Safety first' is now the guide for all in the financial sector. Mr Jenkins fits the mould."
Mr Jenkins joined Barclays in 1983, completing the Barclays Management Development Programme before going on to hold various roles in retail and corporate banking. He moved to Citigroup in 1989 where he spent 16 years.
He has an uphill battle to restore the bank's reputation. On the day of his appointment, Barclays shares were trading down as investors were reacted to news that the Serious Fraud Office was investigating the bank over payments made to Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund four years ago.
In a memo to staff on Thursday, he has acknowledged this, saying that the becoming the "go to bank" will "require nothing short of the transformation of how we operate the business".
He is married with two children.
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