Barclays share price up, names Aviva’s John McFarlane to succeed Chairman David Walker

The second-biggest bank in the U.K. – Barclays Plc appointed John McFarlane as a successor to David Walker as chairman of the bank. Barclays said that Mr. McFarlane will join the bank on January 1st as a non-executive director, and will take the position of Chairman on April 23rd, when the next years annual general meeting is scheduled.

“Mr McFarlane has a strong track record as a CEO and subsequently as a chairman,” the bank said in a statement. “He brings extensive experience of investment, corporate and retail banking, as well as insurance, strategy, risk and cultural change.”

Still, the appointment of the new Chairman could end up in a further shake-up at Barclays, which has been put under pressure by investors because of a share price fall. He changed the strategy of his predecessor at Aviva and sold multiple divisions, including the companys U.S.-based arm as part of a strategy to revamp Avivas business.

Sandy Chen, an analyst at Cenkos Securities Plc commented on the appointment for Bloomberg: “He’s got a good background in the City. He’s got a decent reputation for what he’s done over at Aviva. He did a lot of the clean-up stuff there. The appointment should be received well.”

Barclays Plc added 2.31% to trade at GBX230.70 per share by 11:40 GMT, marking a one year change of -18.36%. The company is valued at £37.04 billion. According to the Financial Times, the 26 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Barclays Plc have a median target of £2.83, with a high estimate of £3.65 and a low estimate of £2.10. The median estimate represents a 25.28% increase from the last price of £2.26.