Fresh exodus at Barclays as Sir Mike Rake moves on

Sir Mike Rake moves on from Barclays

To lose a chief executive might be considered a misfortune. To lose a deputy chairman just a week later might be considered careless.

I have been told that Sir Mike Rake, who has been on Barclays' board since 2008 and deputy chairman since 2012, is stepping down from the bank and is taking up the job as the chairman of Worldpay, the payments processing firm formerly owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The news comes just a week after Antony Jenkins, the chief executive of Barclays, was fired by the Barclays' board.

John McFarlane, the newly installed chairman of the bank, has taken on the role of chief executive while the hunt for the new head of Barclays takes place.

Such significant moves in only a few days may well raise questions in investors' minds.

Sir Mike is a highly respected figure in the business world and at a time when a chairman is bedding in - and taking on the role of chief executive - many believe his senior counsel on the board is more necessary than ever.

Sir Mike was not believed to have been a huge supporter of Mr Jenkins and has always been a backer of Barclays' investment bank.

He was a firm ally of Bob Diamond, the previous chief executive of Barclays who came from the investment bank side of the business.

In contrast, Mr Jenkins headed Barclays' retail bank and was less of a fan of the investment bank.

Sir Mike is thought to have led the delegation that approached Mr McFarlane about removing Mr Jenkins.

Mr McFarlane admitted to me that Mr Jenkins was to all intents and purposes sacked.

Barclays has now got significant rebuilding to do. You can only lose so many people at the top of an organisation before investors start asking questions.

At least Barclays will have the opportunity to answer some of those questions at its interim results on 29 July.

UPDATE 0955

I now understand that Sir Mike Rake hopes to take over as chairman at Worldpay at the beginning of September after agreeing "in principle" to do the job and telling Barclays' chairman John McFarlane last week.

Barclays want Sir Mike to stay on as deputy chairman of the bank until the end of the year to help with the hunt for a new chief executive. That will need regulatory permission as he holds a number of other board positions, including the chairmanship of BT and a directorship at McGraw Hill Financial, the financial services firm which owns businesses such as Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.