Friday May 2, 12:17 PM
Barclays chief operating officer to resign UPDATE
(Updating with further detail, background)
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - U.K. bank Barclays Plc. said its chief operating officer, Paul Idzik, is to step down because he has largely completed the job he was hired to do.
Idzik,
who joined Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) in 1999 from consultants Booz Allen & Hamilton and became chief operating officer in 2004, will quit the group at an unspecified date later this year, Barclays said in a statement.
Chief executive John Varley said Idzik was leaving because his task of reshaping Barclays' corporate structure into two distinct divisions, one focused on investment banking and investment management and the other on retail and commercial banking, was now 'substantially complete'.
'Paul has played a key role in helping us to achieve this. It is what I brought him in to do,' Varley said.
The Financial Times reported on Friday that Idzik had left in frustration over tensions between Varley and Bob Diamond, the bank's president and head of its investment banking and fund management divisions.
Mike Trippitt, banks analyst at Oriel Securities, said Idzik may have decided to leave because he was unlikely to be promoted to a more senior management position.
'The more likely explanation is that with no seat on the board, and with two powerful divisional CEOs, Idzik has a limited power base,' Trippitt said.
By 11:55 a.m., Barclays shares were up 1.2 percent at 470-1/2 pence, while the FTSE 100 share index was 0.9 percent higher at 6,144.4 points.
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