Barclays Says Skip McGee to Step Down as Head of America Unit

(Bloomberg) -- Barclays said Hugh "Skip" McGee will step down as chief executive officer of its Americas unit, almost six years after the British bank bought the operation from the bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings.

McGee, 54, will be replaced by Joe Gold, global head of client capital management, the London-based bank said in a statement today. Barclays said it’s making the change as the Dodd-Frank Act requires it to set up a U.S. holding company, forcing managers to focus on regulation and compliance matters.

The British lender is also under pressure from investors to revive profitability at its securities unit and rein in costs including bonuses. Antony Jenkins, who took over as CEO after the bank was fined for rigging benchmark interest rates, is also trying to overhaul a culture at the firm that a review commissioned by Barclays said veered into arrogance and greed.

“Skip McGee has delivered outstanding service over the last 21 years, both at Barclays and previously at Lehman,” Jenkins said in the statement. “He has been the longest-serving head of investment banking on Wall Street, and our most senior client-facing executive, responsible for driving some of the industry’s highest profile transactions.”

Read more:

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Career moves
MORE FROM FINANCIAL PLANNING