The king is dead... Long live the King.
Bob Diamond is to succeed as the chairman of Barclays after his predecessor John Varley keeps to his word and steps down at the age of 55.
Bob is credited with turning Barclays Capital into a premier investment bank. With the BarCap contributing the lions share of the profits in the last few years this move is not unexpected. Barclays states that there wont be a strategic shift under Bob, in response to the criticism that he has little or no Retail experience whatsoever. However, maybe Barclays actually does need to shake up its retail department from its slumber. Investors traditional don't trust investment banking income because it can be volatile in nature. Which is one of the factors that reflects in Barclay's share price when compared to its rivals such as HSBC and CITI, who have a well established retail department. What investors want to see in a "Universal Bank' as Bob likes to put it, is a strong retail department. Retail is looked upon as more stable form of income for a Bank. In this authors opinion Barclays needs to focus on its core markets in retail and commercial banking in order to replicate BarCaps success.
Bob might be divisive figure in Britain and the gladiator of "Universal Banking". His promotion is sure to make following Barclays in the news allot more entertaining...as we all shall find out.
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