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By Lawrence White
LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Barclays' co-heads of
equities, Todd Sandoz and Paul Leech, have left the bank, a
company spokesperson said on Monday, as the British firm
continues a reshuffle of its investment bank's management.
Stephen Dainton, who has run the business in the past, has
taken over as interim global head of equities, the spokesperson
said, in addition to keeping his current role as co-head of
global markets.
"The current strategy and client proposition for equities
were set by Stephen when he previously ran the business and will
not change," the bank said in an internal memo seen by Reuters
and confirmed by the spokesperson.
The bank now needs a single leader for the business to keep
growing market share and returns, the memo said. Barclays is
conducting a search for a permanent leader for the equities
business, it added.
Barclays' investment bank has performed strongly in recent
quarters, helping the overall group to beat market expectations
for profit thanks in particular to a boom in fixed-income
trading, where Barclays has traditionally been strong.
The bank's reputation among investors as well as its results
have, however, been blighted by a trading blunder last year that
saw it agree a penalty of $361 million with U.S. regulators.
Those authorities described oversights that led the bank to
sell nearly $18 billion worth of investment products, more than
was permitted by the rules, as "staggering." The bank admitted
its failing and bought many of the securities back.
The reshuffle announced on Monday is the latest in a series
of changes at the top of Barclays' investment bank, after it
last month appointed former Credit Suisse dealmaker Cathal Deasy
and Taylor Wright as co-heads of investment banking.
The changes come while Chief Executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan
is being treated for cancer, for which he has said doctors have
made an optimistic prognosis, and during which he has said he
will keep working.
(Reporting by Lawrence White
Editing by David Goodman, Mark Potter and Sharon Singleton)
Messaging: @ReutersLawrence))
