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By Margot Patrick
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Barclays PLC (BCS) Tuesday announced a major restructuring of its businesses into new group units that includes the surprise departure of one of its top executives, Frits Seegers.
The bank said the new Corporate and Investment Banking and Wealth Management unit will include its Barclays Capital unit, commercial bank and wealth management activities and will be overseen by group President Bob Diamond.
Jerry del Missier and Rich Ricci will be co-chief executives of the corporate and investment banking part of the business--expanding del Missier's prior role as president of Barclays Capital and Ricci's as chief operating officer of investment banking and investment management. Tom Kalaris will continue to head Barclays Wealth.
The bank is also forming a global retail banking division made up of U.K. retail banking, its Barclaycard credit card business, and Western Europe and emerging markets retail and commercial banking, to be run by Antony Jenkins, the current chief executive of Barclaycard.
Jenkins will report to group Chief Executive John Varley, as will Maria Ramos, CEO of Barclay's South African Absa subsidiary.
Del Missier, Ricci, Kalaris, Jenkins and Ramos will all join Barclays' group executive committee as part of the rejig. The bank's group general counsel, Mark Harding, its chief risk officer, Robert Le Blanc and its group human resources director, Cathy Turner, will also join the committee, highlighting how banks are increasingly focusing on corporate governance and risk management at the highest levels.
Barclays said Seegers will leave his role as chief executive of global retail and commercial banking after a handover. His resignation from the bank's board is effective immediately.
Barclays had previously divided itself into three divisions: Barclays Global Retail and Commercial Banking; Investment Banking and Investment Management; and Group Centre. A spokesman said the changes reflect the evolving needs of clients, as they tap into different parts of the bank.
"The structure and promotions we are announcing today are designed to position Barclays strongly in an industry that is experiencing rapid change. At their heart is developing our capabilities to benefit the customers and clients of Barclays within a strong governance framework which is well attuned to the events of the last two years," CEO Varley said in a statement.
He said he is sad the divisional changes are resulting in Seegers' departure, after Seegers had "a transformation impact on our retail and commercial businesses globally."
Seegers, who had been at the bank since July 2006, wasn't available to comment Tuesday. In a statement, he said he was proud of his and his team's achievements during his time at the bank, and wished it all the best.
The bank, which is due to report on its third-quarter performance Nov. 10, said pretax profit in the period was "consistent with the run rate for the first half of 2009."
Company Web site: http://www.barclays.com
-By Margot Patrick, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9451; margot.patrick@dowjones.com