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Antony Jenkins, chief executive officer of Barclays, said it may take a decade to rebuild trust in the bank after a series of scandals from interest-rate manipulation to selling customers insurance they didn’t need. |
“It is about what you do, not what you say,” Jenkins said in BBC programme early this week. “Until people start to perceive the change, Barclays will not begin rebuilding that trust.”
Jenkins, 52, was guest editor of the BBC’s daily current- affairs show as he seeks to mend the reputation of the London- based lender. “In my view it will take several years - probably five to 10,” he said.
Jenkins was named to head Barclays in August 2012 in the aftermath of the Libor rate-rigging scandal, which cost the lender 290mn pounds ($479mn) in fines and three of its most senior executives, including CEO Bob Diamond. Last year Barclays increased provisions against insurance mis-selling claims to £4bn. In November, six currency traders were suspended as regulators investigate the manipulation of the $5.3tn a day foreign exchange market.
“It’s desperately disappointing to still have these issues being uncovered,” Jenkins said on the BBC. “We are undoing 30 years of culture and that will take time. Legacy issues will be with us for a number of years.”
Jenkins, Barclays’s former consumer banking head, in February overhauled the bank’s structure and closed businesses, including a profitable operation that helped wealthy individuals and businesses cut their tax bill.
“Historically, Barclays was quite active in tax avoidance,” Jenkins said. “That is something we have stopped doing.”
