--- ADDS THIRD QUARTER PREVIEW AND COMMENT ---
Barclays (LON:BARC) has confirmed former JP Morgan Chase banker Jes Staley as its new chief executive.
Staley, who is currently a managing partner of US hedge fund BlueMountain Capital Management, will start in December.
He replaces Antony Jenkins who was ousted in July amid differences over the bank's recovery drive.
Jenkins had wanted to downsize Barclays’s investment banking operation following its involvement in the Libor rigging scandal.
John McFarlane, chairman, said growing Barclay’s investment banking division will be one of its major priorities.
And that’s what investors will be looking for tomorrow, when the bank updates the market on its third quarter.
The investment banking division performed better-than-expected in the first half of the year meaning that despite the group’s revenues slipping 3%, it was actually ahead of expectations.
Broker Investec said it expects-full year group revenue to slip 2% overall, after a small pick-up in the second half, with underlying pre-tax profit down 4% year on year.
More importantly for investors will be any comments made by the newly appointed chief executive on his strategy for the business.
Today, McFarlane said: “In Jes Staley we believe we have an executive with the appropriate leadership talent and wide-ranging experience to deliver shareholder value and to take the group forward strategically.”
Also of note will be the amount the company has set aside for PPI mis-selling, after Lloyds (LON:LLOY) was forced to add another £500mln to its provision today.
Though Lloyds has now set aside £14bn for PPI mis-selling claims, the most of any of the main high street bank, Barclays has been racking up its own set of provisions, notably for the forex rigging scandal where the bank agreed to pay US$384mln in a settlement last week.
The law firm that brought the action, Scott & Scott has indicated it could get the go-ahead for further action in other countries and Barclays may address this tomorrow.