If Barclays (BARC) chair John McFarlane stuck the knife into the bank's chief executive, Antony Jenkins, the subsequent rise in the share price showed that shareholders were only too happy to help twist the blade. This seems counterintuitive: the bank has been the best performing of the 'big four' lenders over the past year, despite misconduct fines clouding its first-quarter results. Look at the share price since Mr Jenkins' arrival, though, and the dissatisfaction with the bank's performance is easier to understand (see graph).
The predominant view is that the chief executive's strategy for cutting fat from the business was not aggressive enough for the shareholders and the board, so he had to go. David Smith, an equity income fund manager at Henderson Global Investors, says the "execution and speed of the run-off have clearly been a frustration", even if non-core areas have been identified.