Barclays looks internally for new chief executive

As part of the bank's succession planning, the directors have selected five internal candidates from which they hope to choose Barrett's successor. They are John Varley, 47, finance director; Bob Diamond, 51, head of Barclays Capital and Barclays Global Investors; David Roberts, 41, head of personal financial services; Roger Davis, 46, head of business banking; and Gary Hoffman, 42, head of Barclaycard. All five are considered excellent contenders.

The board is almost certain that its new chief executive should come from inside, partly because of the high quality of the internal candidates and also to give the bank continuity. However, it will be looking at external candidates to benchmark its own.

Non-executives on the board are determined the succession will be handled with great care to avoid any power struggles or losing star executives who are not chosen.

Peter Middleton, Barclays chairman, is 70 next April and is expected to retire, although there is no formal requirement for him to do so. If he does, then the board wants Barrett, the Irish Canadian chief executive, to become chairman, despite the recent Higgs recommendations on corporate governance that suggest chief executives should not automatically take on the chairmanship.

Barclays is more than happy to explain its decision in line with the "comply or explain" condition in Higgs' recommendations.