Barclays picks lawyer to head review
Barclays has picked veteran lawyer Anthony Salz to lead a review of its culture and practices following the Libor scandal that rocked the bank, forcing its chairman and chief executive to quit.
The review could include a change to the bank’s bonus structure and is expected to complete before May 2013. The scandal has shown Barclays needs to step up its efforts to change culture, the bank admitted on Tuesday.
Salz spent more than 30 years as a corporate lawyer with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, including 10 as senior partner.
“The culture of the banking industry overall, and that of Barclays within it, needs to evolve,” Barclays said. The review “will assess the bank’s current values, principles and standards of operation and determine to what extent those need to change,” the bank said.
It will also test how well current decision-making processes incorporate the bank’s values and assess whether appropriate training, development, incentives and disciplinary processes are in place.
“Trust has been decimated and needs to be rebuilt,” Barclays said. “Recent events indicate clearly that Barclays, like other big UK banks, needs to redouble its efforts.”
The review will be independent and Salz will report to Michael Rake, deputy chairman. The bank said it expects to fully implement its findings.