New Barclays boss Jenkins vows to review every unit in the bank
NEW BARCLAYS boss Antony Jenkins yesterday committed himself to keeping the universal banking model and maintaining a strong investment bank, but told analysts that every individual unit would need to prove its worth or could be scrapped.
His tough review of the bank’s operations will be “granular and comprehensive” and will see units without a sustainable long-term future dropped or reformed, he told analysts after speaking in New York.
This should differ from previous reviews both because the bank has a clearer idea of incoming regulations, and because it is applying a new ethical filter to make sure the bank focuses on all stakeholders, from employees and shareholders to the public, Jenkins explained.
“Some lines of business are more controversial – for example proprietary trading has received a lot of coverage,” he said.
“Do not infer any comment on our future decisions from that, but it is an area of reputational scrutiny.”
Investment banking boss Rich Ricci added that the tax planning arm could be one of those closed for reputational reasons.