Barclays has named a new chief executive to succeed former leader Bob Diamond, who resigned last month over the interbank rate-rigging scandal.

Barclays, the UK's largest lender, has named a new chief executive to succeed former leader Bob Diamond, who resigned last month over the interbank rate-rigging scandal. 

Antony Jenkins, who currently leads Barclays' retail and business banking business, starts immediately in the top role. He has been a member of the group executive committee of Barclays since 2009. His previous role as CEO for retail and business banking included responsibility for retail banking in Barclays Africa and Absa.

Jenkins will report to newly-instated chairman-elect Sir David Walker, who himself replaced former chairman Marcus Agius. Agius, who resigned the day before Diamond, continues as chairman until November, when Walker will take up the mantle.

Jenkins' appointment will be welcome good news for the bank, which is still reeling from the LIBOR scandal. The controversy and subsequent probe saw Barclays slammed with fines totalling £290 million (around US$455 million) in June, for manipulation of the inter-bank interest rate.

To make matters worse, today it emerged that the UK's Serious Fraud Office had launched an investigation into money raised by Barclays from a Qatari investment company. The probe, which follows a similar inquiry by the Financial Services Authority last month, is looking into the money the bank raised from Middle East investors in 2008, which effectively helped it to avoid the bailout faced by so many peers. The SFO is focusing on payments made by government-backed Qatar Holding, which reportedly invested £4.5 billion with the UK bank. 

Jenkins alluded to recent issues in a statement published by the bank. He said: "We have made serious
mistakes in recent years and clearly failed to keep pace with our
stakeholders' expectations. We have an obligation to all of those
stakeholders – customers, clients, shareholders, colleagues and broader
society – and a unique opportunity to restore Barclays' reputation by
making it the 'go to' bank in all of our chosen markets. That journey
will take time, we have much to do, and I look forward to getting
started immediately."

Agius, Barclays chairman, said of the decision to appoint Jenkins:
"Jenkins stood out....because of his excellent track record transforming
Barclaycard and retail and business banking; his intimate knowledge of
Barclays portfolio garnered over three years on the group executive committee; his role in the development of the bank’s strategy; and his
future vision for Barclays and plan to realise it. We are
confident...that he will work quickly to take the group forward."

At the end of July, the bank made an adjusted pre-tax profit of £4.227 billion, a 13 per cent rise from the same six months in 2011; net operating income was $13.643 billion, a 1 per cent gain. The bank’s cost/income ratio was 61 per cent in the latest six-month period, down from 64 per cent. The wealth and investment management arm of the bank logged pre-tax
profits of £121 million in the first half of 2012, a 38 per cent
year-on-year increase.

Barclays had a Core Tier 1 ratio of 10.9 per cent at the end of June this year, down slightly from the end of last year.