Barclays to install ex-boss of B&Q-owner Kingfisher Sir Ian Cheshire as chair of its UK operations
Barclays is set to announce Sir Ian Cheshire as chair of its UK ringfenced operations tomorrow.
Under the ringfencing rules, banks have until 2019 to split their retail units away from their investment divisions.
Sky News, which first reported the news of Cheshire's impending appointment, revealed the Prudential Regulation Authority, the banking sector watchdog, has now given the thumbs up to Cheshire as chairman of Barclays UK after a rigorous interview process.
Read more: US bankers' bonuses are putting UK lenders to shame
Cheshire, a former chief executive of B&Q-owner Kingfisher, will oversee the business consisting of the group's British high street branches, its UK business banking and Barclaycard operations. He was also a non-exec on the board of Bradford & Bingley, the mortgage lender which needed to be bailed out in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
Ashok Vaswani, who has been with the bank since 2010, will run Barclays UK as chief executive, while JP Morgan alumnus Tim Throsby will head up Barclays Corporate and Investment Bank.
Barclays revealed last week it had not only nearly trebled its pre-tax profits, but was planning to close down its non-core unit six months earlier than planned.
Read more: Where does banking generate more than one-in-10 jobs? It's not just London
Barclays Non-Core, which was established in 2014 to house the assets which no longer fit into the bank's plans for the future, is now due to shut down at the end of June, not the end of the year as previously planned.
However, the lender also revealed it had sliced one per cent from its bonus pool for the year, and had been forced to slash its total dividend by more than half to support the accelerated closing of the non-core unit.
Barclays declined to comment.
Read more: This is how City analysts reacted to Barclays' results
The ring-fencing rules, which were proposed by Sir John Vickers in 2011, are intended to prevent a round of bail outs if the UK experiences another financial crisis. By funding the two division of the bank separately, the ringfenced retail division should be able to continue functioning even if the non-ringfenced part of the bank runs into financial hot water.
Barclays has previously said it will be implementing its ringfencing plans over the Easter weekend next year, which will allow it to transform the legal structure of the bank with limited interruptions for its customers.