Barclays Said To Engage Headhunters, Citi To Merge Units

The Sunday Telegraph understands Sir David, who became chairman in November following the departure of predecessor Marcus Agius and chief executive Bob Diamond, is looking for at least one female director as part of the process.

It is understood he is working with Anna Mann, who runs MWM Consulting, to find the trio to add ballast to the board.

In the meantime, Bloomberg reports that Jeff Walker, Asia-Pacific head of insurance at Barclays' investment banking unit, has left as the firm started cutting jobs last week, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Walker, who joined the financial institutions group in 2011 from Daiwa Capital Markets Hong Kong, was previously chief executive officer at Prudential Assurance Co. in Hong Kong. Nina Zhou, a managing director in the same group, and David Han, co-head of Korea investment banking, also left, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

The news organisation also reports that Citigroup is combining its leveraged finance origination and syndication businesses in the U.S., according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

The new unit will be managed by Tom Cole, co-head of U.S. leveraged finance, and John McAuley, who formerly headed the high-yield debt distribution group for North America at the third-biggest U.S. lender, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the changes haven’t been announced publicly.

Barclays appoints headhunter to find three new directors

Barclays’s Walker, Zhou, Han Said to Leave Bank Amid Staff Cuts

Citigroup Said to Merge Two U.S. Leveraged Finance Groups

image: © Elliot Brown