| Barclays UK chief takes ‘gardening leave’ amid shake-up |
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LONDON: Barclays Bank yesterday announced it would reshuffle its top management after Roger Davis, head of UK banking business, quit in a sudden move.
Davis, 49, left after only two years at the helm of the group’s underperforming UK businesses. His job is to be filled by three people, while another Barclays director Gary Hoffman will take charge as chairman of Barclaycard and the UK banking divisions.
Davis, who has been a former investment banker and British army tank commander, said he was seeking “fresh challenges”. He will be available to the group as a consultant for the next six months and will receive a compensation package of £1m another six months later, after which he would be free to accept a job with a rival bank. He said he would be on a ‘gardening leave’ until April 2007.
It is believed that his sudden decision to quit Barclays was due to pressure from John Varley who took over recently as chief executive and wanted the management’s decision making process to follow his dictates.
Davis had taken charge of the UK banking division in January last year. His brief at the time was to revive the fortunes of this group. He quits at a time when the group started to show some tentative signs of recovering, signs that suggest he may have accomplished the task to some extent. The bank’s top brass are not likely to agree, investors said. They point out that he left when the bank was only 12 months into a three year turnaround programme. Davis’ contributions may not be reflected in the balance sheet, an analyst said.
Davis’ job will be divided into three with Anthony Jenkins (ex-Citigroup) taking charge of Barclaycard; Peter Harvey taking charge as chief executive of UK business banking; and Deanna Oppenheimer taking over as chief executive of UK retail banking. Davis’s responsibilities will be assumed by Gary Hoffman, the current chief of Barclay’s credit card business. Hoffman who has been at Barclays for the past 23 years now becomes chairman of both the Barclaycard and the UK banking divisions.
The first sign Davis gave of his intention to no longer be a part of Barclays was by being absent at the annual dinner last week for Barclays top managers and their clients.
Posted
on : Fri, 09 Dec 2005 01:30 GMT | Banking News
By : Chris Rowe
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