Banks love reorganizations (bankers, of course, hate them). But few banks embrace them quite as regularly as Barclays seems to these days.
The latest – marking new corporate and investment bank head Tim Throsby’s first real stab at the org chart – is a bit of a conundrum.
On the banking side, it is hard to argue with the logic. Having a single global head of banking in Joe McGrath should avoid the typical problem of co-heads being merely the heads of whatever region each of them is running.
Rejigging the Europe structure makes sense too. John Mahon is a formidable presence, and a stint sorting out Barclays non-core certainly showed his resilience. But his EMEAPAC leadership role was the ever-expanding portfolio and it looks sensible to have him focus on the corporate bank now, if that is where the bank thinks a dedicated resource is needed.
With EMEA corporate finance head Sam Dean retiring, it also means the bank rationalizes the management layers. The next appointment to run European and Middle Eastern banking will combine Dean’s old role and the investment bank bit of Mahon’s.