LONDON, April 19 (IFR) - Barclays is unlikely to formallyreplace Tom King as head of its investment bank, leaving chiefexecutive Jes Staley in control of the business for theforeseeable future, people familiar with the matter said.
A final decision has not yet been made but the bank isleaning towards not replacing King, who left on March 4. He hadbeen CEO or co-head of the investment bank since May 2013 andmade clear last summer he intended to leave in 2016.
Staley, who previously ran JP Morgan's investment bank,knows the industry well and is keen to stay on top of itsperformance and strategy, the people said.
There are other reasons too: the bank can save money by notreplacing King, who was was paid £9.5m in 2015. Barclays alsoneeds to appoint a head of its new corporate and internationalarm, which includes the investment bank and would therefore addanother executive layer.
Staley became Barclays CEO in December and quickly set outplans for the investment bank. He cut 1,200 more jobs, exitedBrazil, Russia and seven countries in Asia and stopped cashequities and precious metals trading.
He said those moves were an acceleration of a strategy thatwas well underway, and there would be no more radical changes.Last month he said the investment bank was now the right size,anchored in its home markets of Britain and the US.
Since King left, the heads of banking and markets teams havebeen reporting directly to Staley.
He has been named interim CEO of Barclays Corporate andInternational (BC&I), which includes the investment bank and allbusinesses outside a "ring-fenced" unit that all UK banks haveto set up to shield UK retail banking units to protect taxpayersand savers.
Setting up BC&I effectively makes the role of investmentbank CEO redundant, the people said.
Headhunting firm Spencer Stuart is running the searches forBarclays.
Staley last month told staff that Joe Gold, head of itsAmericas business, had become deputy CEO of BC&I - anotherpointer that King won't be replaced even if it takes time tofill the top BC&I post.
Other senior Barclays investment bankers include Joe McGrathand Richard Taylor, co-heads of banking; Joe Corcoran, head ofmarkets; and Andy Jones, head of Asia. John Winter runscorporate banking.
Barclays also appointed Mike Bagguley as chief operatingofficer for the investment bank in November. Bagguley, who waspreviously the head of its macro markets business, was taskedwith accelerating delivery of the strategy that was alreadyunderway - effectively to cut costs and improve profitability.
He was also asked to align infrastructure functions and helpcoordinate and deliver projects. Bagguley had already overseenthe reduction in size and reshaping of the macro business, whichincludes interest rates, foreign exchange and commoditiesproducts, as trading revenues fell and tougher regulation madeparts of that business unprofitable.
The people said Staley's decision to hold the reins and nothire a new big-name outsider was also because some people werenot interested in the role.
Staley approached his former JP Morgan colleague BlytheMasters last year to see if she was interested in doing the job,people said in December. But Masters said she was fullycommitted to running her financial technology start-up, DigitalAsset Holdings.
Industry insiders said some bankers, particularly in the US,had been deterred from taking senior UK banking jobs due to newUK rules holding them personally accountable for problems ontheir patch, which could land them in jail.
Barclays' investment bank has halved its risk-weightedassets in the past two years, leaving the level at less than 25%of group assets. It has shifted to a second phase of itsrestructuring, aimed at shaving more costs and protectingrevenues with a leaner, narrower business.
Even so, getting the strategy right for the investment bankremains one of the key issues for Staley, given the volatilenature of the business and the attention it attracts frominvestors and politicians. (Reporting by Steve Slater, Matthew Davies and Alex Chambers)
Barclays (BARC)
