Barclays share price up, fires Chief Executive Antony Jenkins

Barclays Plc announced on Wednesday that Antony Jenkins, chief executive officer, would leave the lender after losing the confidence of its non-executive directors.

The British bank said a replacement for Mr. Jenkins was underway and that Chairman John McFarlane will act as interim executive chairman before a successor is appointed. Pending regulatory approval, the change will come into force on July 17th, when Mr. McFarlane retires from FirstGroup.

Barclays said its non-executive directors, led by Michael Rake, its deputy chairman and senior independent director, concluded that “new leadership is required to accelerate the pace of execution going forward and that John McFarlane is ideally qualified in this respect until a permanent successor is appointed.”

This comes three years after Mr. Jenkins took over from Bob Diamond in the wake of the bank’s Libor interest rate rigging scandal. Initially called “Saint Antony” for his commitment to mend the lenders scandal-hit reputation, Mr. Jenkins is believed to have been fired due to disagreements with the board over the size of the underperforming investment bank and the pace of cost cutting.

Once a driver of the banks majority of profits, the investment bank has become Barclays worst performing division, weighed down by regulation and slower market activity. The BBC reported that it is thought that Mr. Rake wants the lender to retain its global presence as a major investment bank, whereas Mr. Jenkins argued it should be scaled down.

“Notwithstanding Antony’s significant achievements, it became clear to all of us that a new set of skills were required for the period ahead,” Mr. Rake said. “This does not take away from our appreciation of Antony’s contribution at a critical time for the company.”

Mr. McFarlane said that the lender is leaving value on the table and that in order to bring shareholder returns forward, it needs to focus on what is attractive and what it is good at. “We therefore need to accelerate revenue, costs and capital performance. We also need to become more externally focused and deal with the internal bureaucracy by becoming leaner and more agile.”

Mr. Jenkins remains entitled to 12 months notice and will continue to receive his current annual salary of £1.1 million through July 7th 2016, as well as role based pay delivered in Barclays shares of £950 000 per annum, pension allowance of £363 000 per annum and other benefits, the lender said.

Mr. McFarlane has told the Board Remuneration Committee that he does not wish his pay to be revised, despite his additional responsibilities, and will continue to receive the annual fee of £800 000 he earns as chairman, plus £100 000 per year in shares.

Barclays Plc rose 2.78% to GBX 259.15 by 07:48 GMT in London, marking a 21.27% year-on-year jump. The lender is valued at £43.41 billion. According to the Financial Times, the 24 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Barclays Plc have a median target of GBX 290.00, with a high estimate of GBX 350.00 and a low estimate of GBX 200.00. The median estimate represents a 15.01% increase from the previous close of GBX 252.15.