Barclays is set to appoint Jes Staley as its new chief executive, according to a report by The Financial Times which cited two people familiar with the matter.
The banking giant is expected to officially announce a successor to Antony Jenkins within the next few weeks.
According to the FT report, Jes Staley, an ex-JP Morgan investment banker who was offered the Barclays top job in 2010, was selected from a shortlist of two people.
Staley worked at JP Morgan for three decades, eventually rising up the ranks to head the firm’s asset-management and investment-bank units.
Two years ago he joined the US huge fund Blue Mountain Capital as a managing partner and he is also on the UBS board of directors.
Former chief executive Antony Jenkins came from a retail banking background. He was the group chief executive of Barclays from 30 August 2012 until he was sacked on 8 July 2015.
The bank’s board said it sought a leader with “a new set of skills”. A person close to the board is reported to have said that Jenkins “did not understand investment banking”.
Chairman John McFarlane took over as interim CEO after Jenkins was fired.
The FT said that appointing Staley is going to be a welcome change given the “anti-investment bank strategy of Mr Jenkins”.
Barclays is currently in the process of splitting its investment arm from its retail unit under the new “ringfencing” law in the UK. The bank’s returns, along with its European rivals, are lagging behind their U.S. counterparts. It is also facing a surge in litigation costs.
Earlier this year McFarlane pledged to take on a more robust approach and press on with cost cuts and divestitures in an effort to boost the bank’s earnings.
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