Barclays New CEO Antony Jenkins: Profile

Antony Jenkins, the new chief executive of Barclays, is a career banker, having started as a graduate recruit at the bank's South Kensington branch almost 30 years ago. Unlike his predecessor Bob Diamond, however, Jenkins comes from the "safer" retail side of the industry rather than buccaneering investment banking that has caused Barclays so much trouble. He is the very antithesis of the brash American - a mild-mannered Brit.

The 51-year-old marathon runner has been described as the "nice guy" of banking, and as "very family focused". He is married with two children.

Jenkins, who comes from Stoke-on-Trent, had until now been in charge of Barclays' retail and business banking, including its retail business in Africa, and joined the bank's executive committee in November 2009. Before that, he headed up Barclaycard between 2006 and 2009, having rejoined the bank from Citigroup. He also served on the board of Visa Europe between 2008 and 2011.

He has a masters in PPE from Oxford and an MBA from the Cranfield Institute of Technology, and started his career in finance in 1983 when he completed the Barclays Management Development Programme. He went on to hold various roles in retail and corporate banking. He moved to Citigroup in 1989, working for the American bank in London and New York.

This article was written by Julia Kollewe, for guardian.co.uk on Thursday 30th August 2012 08.59 Europe/London