The onward march of Bob Diamond - Barclays ' president and head of investment banking - has received another boost after the lender’s commercial banking operations were placed under his control.
Buried by an avalanche of newsflow from Lloyds and RBS was a low-key statement from Barclays announcing that the lender's retail boss, Frits Seegers, will step-down and that the commercial banking business will pass from the retail side to a new unit - called corporate and investment banking and wealth management - to be headed by Mr Diamond. The remainder of the retail operation - dominated by UK retail banking and Barclaycard - will be headed by Barclaycard's current chief executive, Antony Jenkins.
The bank also reported that its pre-tax profit for the third quarter was "consistent with the run rate for the first half of 2009". Barclays releases its full third-quarter trading statement on 10 November.
