June 2009

The Barclays era dawns

Frits Seegers has a mission to turn Barclays into a global retail and commercial banking powerhouse.


Barclays: The bank that LIVED
Barclays keeps apologizing for saving the bank
Strong leaders must choose the right path

"It took Barclays 300 years to get to 30 million customers. We’ll be at 60 million within four years"

Frits Seegers, Barclays

Between Bob Diamond driving the build-up of Barclays Capital on the one side and Frits Seegers driving the build-up of global retail and commercial banking on the other, John Varley must occupy one of the most interesting seats in global banking, if not always the most comfortable one.

Entering his 14th year at the bank, Diamond is the long-serving head of a new entity, very much his own creation and that of a few trusted colleagues. Meanwhile if Seegers is heir to Barclays’ 300-year tradition as a retail and business bank, he shows no great respect for history but rather plenty of Diamond’s drive and ambition, if...


The rest of this article is available to subscribers only

Please Subscribe or take a Free Trial below.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.