Barclays Up In London Trading After CEO Departure; Stock Not Rising In American Markets

Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) on Wednesday announced the departure of Antony Jenkins as Chief Executive Officer. At the same time, the bank announced the appointment of John McFarlane as Executive Chairman pending the appointment of a new CEO.

Barclays noted in a press release that its Non-Executive Directors led by Sir Michael Rake concluded that "new leadership is required to accelerate the pace of execution going forward" and that McFarlane is "ideally qualified" to operate as head of the bank until a permanent successor is appointed.

"I reflected long and hard on the issue of Group leadership and discussed this with each of the Non-Executive Directors," Rake stated in the press release. "Notwithstanding Antony's significant achievements, it became clear to all of us that a new set of skills were required for the period ahead. This does not take away from our appreciation of Antony's contribution at a critical time for the company."

At the time of this publication, shares of Barclays were trading higher by more than 3 percent at £261.45 on the London Stock Exchange. Its ADR equivalent on the New York Stock Exchange showed no trades at the same time.

Jenkins played a key role in attempting to reverse the bank's image, which was damaged by alleged misconduct and rigging scandals within the forex markets and Libor rates.

"We ... need to get the errors of the past behind us, to achieve a satisfactory rate of revenue growth, greater cost discipline and a more dynamic reallocation of capital," Reuters reported the former executive as saying at the company's annual shareholder meeting in April.

Jenkins was promoted to Chief Executive Officer in 2012 and replaced Bob Diamond, who held top ranks during the Libor scandal.