Barclays Gets a Quiet Leader for a Change

Barclays Gets a Quiet Leader for a Change

As Chief Executive Officer of Barclays (BCS), Bob Diamond became a symbol of excess in the banking industry. His compensation totaled about £120 million ($190 million) from the time he joined the board in 2005. He was known for his outspoken style and counted Mick Jagger and golfer Phil Mickelson among his friends. Barclays’ new CEO, Antony Jenkins, is a low-key, collegial consumer banker who runs marathons and outlasted rivals to win the top job. “In Jenkins you’ve got the archetypal English CEO who is seen as rather safe, compared with the typically aggressive U.S. investment banker that was Bob Diamond,” says Alan Beaney, investment director at R.C. Brown Investment Management in Bristol, England. “His appointment signals that the bank is not going to be as brazen as it has been in the past.”