By Steve Slater and Paul Sandle
LONDON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Barclays said its finance director
Chris Lucas and its top legal expert are to retire, adding to
change at the top of the British bank as it struggles to put a
series of scandals behind it.
Lucas, aged 52, has been finance director for a tough six
years that spanned the global financial crisis, but the past
nine months have been particularly difficult.
He is one of four current and former employees being
investigated by UK authorities regarding a capital injection by
Qatar in 2008.
Group General Counsel Mark Harding will also retire, the
bank said in a statement on Sunday.
Both will remain in their roles until their successors have
been found and an appropriate handover completed.
The bank said headhunters had been appointed, but it
expected the process to take "a considerable time" to complete.
It could take up to a year to fill Lucas's position, people
familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Sunday. Sky
News first reported Lucas would leave.
Sources said Lucas's departure was not linked to the
investigations into Qatar. He is also the only one of Barclays'
executive directors still in his post after the bank was fined
$450 million in June for rigging the Libor global benchmark
interest rate.
New Chief Executive Antony Jenkins is attempting to move on
from the bank's troubles, which also include the mis-selling of
financial products, but that is proving a challenge.
The Financial Times reported on Friday that UK authorities
are looking into allegations that Barclays lent Qatar Holding
money to invest as part of the rescue fundraising four years
ago.
British rules forbid a public company from giving financial
assistance in order to acquire its shares.
Jenkins said Lucas and Harding both told him late last year
they were considering stepping down. "Their decision to retire
was theirs alone," he said.
Lucas has had health problems and although that has not
affected his ability to do his job, it influenced his decision
to retire, one of the sources said.
"Now is the appropriate time ... to begin my retirement from
my role on the board and executive committee, and to pass the
mantle on to a successor," Lucas said in a statement.
Jenkins is due to unveil plans to streamline and revive
Barclays on Feb. 12 and he has also promised to improve culture
and standards across the bank's 140,000 workforce.
The CEO said on Friday he will not take a bonus for 2012,
saying he should "bear an appropriate degree of accountability"
for the difficult year the bank endured.
"The execution of our change programme will take place over
the next 5-10 years, and both Chris and Mark feel that now is
the right time for them, personally and professionally, to pass
the baton on in their respective roles to executives who can
commit to seeing that programme to completion," Jenkins said.
Harding, 55, joined as general counsel in 2003, and has
responsibility for legal issues throughout the bank, and as such
handled Barclays' settlement with British and U.S. authorities
last year for its manipulation of Libor rates.
Harding was previously general counsel of UBS's
investment bank and a partner at law firm Clifford Chance.
Former Chief Executive Bob Diamond, Chairman Marcus Agius
and Chief Operating Officer Jerry del Missier all left last year
following the Libor scandal.
Lucas, who joined the Barclays board in April 2007 from
PricewaterhouseCoopers, was paid almost 4 million pounds each
year in 2011 and 2010, including long-term awards.
Jenkins and his chairman David Walker, are likely to be
grilled on standards at the bank by British lawmakers when they
appear before the UK banking inquiry on Tuesday.
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