Head of investment banking at Barclays says "I'm not going anywhere"

Rich Ricci, who heads up investment banking at Barclays this week told Financial News that he is "not going anywhere" and gave his full support to Chief Executive Antony Jenkins and his strategy for the investment banking division, where a significant number of jobs are being cut. Ricci also commented that he felt Barclays had been "unduly optimistic" over the available global fee pool and the "growth story" in Europe and Asia, but stressed that although the company's presence in these areas was being reduced, they are still important. He told Financial News: "Europe and Asia are vital for our global franchise. The reason we reduced headcount is the result of the banking fee pool in these regions declining by over a third over the last couple of years. We need to size the business relative to the opportunity that's available to us."[...] We were hopeful in the early part of 2009 that there might be a macroeconomic recovery globally. In 2010 we hoped things would come back and then again in 2011. We now think this looks more structural than cyclical."He continued: "We have people on the ground - we're not closing countries and we're not going to suitcase those regions from London and the US."Under the company's new strategy, 1,800 jobs in the Corporate and Investment Bank division are being cut. The group this week said it plans to maintain an "appropriate presence across Europe and Asia to support our global Investment Banking franchise", and that it will reposition the division "to reflect the market opportunities and maintain a relevant proposition for our clients".