Banking - Barclays searches for new FD

Barclays Bank faces a race against time to find a finance director to replace Oliver Stocken who is due to leave the group on 23 April.

With only a few weeks to go until Stocken is due to bow out, a spokesman said there were no candidates for the position and Stocken’s retirement date had not been moved.

City analysts expect Stocken to remain in his role until a replacement is found. Sources pointed to the dual problems of a new group chief executive, Michael O’Neill, and last November’s abrupt departure of former chief executive Martin Taylor, which highlighted divisions within the board.

One insider said: ‘This is a less than desirable situation and it is more than likely that O’Neill will want to have a say in the appointment and may have someone in mind.’

O’Neill, ex-chief financial officer and president of the Bank of America, was due to start in his new role last Friday but his arrival was delayed due to illness.

Some questioned why there was apparently no internal candidate who would have enabled Stocken to go as planned. Barclays is likely to be faced with the difficult task of finding a replacement from the limited external market.