Rich Ricci to quit Barclays in management shake-up

Rich Ricci will step down from his post at Barclays. Picture: Getty

Ricci has been with the scandal-hit bank for 19 years and will receive up to one year’s salary after he retires in June, unless he gets a new job in the meantime, but Barclays declined to reveal his basic pay and his pension entitlements because he is not an executive director.

Ricci picked up a £17.6 million windfall under a share award scheme from the bank, which was fined £290m by UK and US regulators last year over the Libor-rigging affair.

The revelation of the share sale, on the same day as the Budget, raised eyebrows in the City but Barclays said it had planned the announcement months before Chancellor George Osborne set a date for his speech.Tom Kalaris, head of Barclays’ wealth management business, will also leave the group on 30 June with up to a year’s salary. Both he and Ricci were key lieutenants of Bob Diamond, the former chief executive who left last summer as the Libor scandal engulfed the group.

Ricci, who owns a number of racehorses, joined Barclays in 1994 and led its acquisition of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

Jenkins, who replaced Diamond, said: “We are very grateful to Rich for his major contribution to Barclays over the past 19 years, during which time he has played a significant role in building our investment bank into the success it is today.”

Speculation over Ricci’s future had been mounting since the bank’s annual results presentation in February, when Jenkins refused to back him.

Investec analyst Ian Gordon said: “The market will see this as an inevitable and appropriate piece of transitioning. Few tears will be shed and the reshuffle will be broadly welcomed.”

Ricci will be replaced by Eric Bommensath and Tom King, who will take on the titles of co-chief executives of corporate and investment banking in addition to their respective roles as head of markets and head of investment banking.