Barclays PLC (LON:BARC) has today confirmed the appointment of Ian Cheshire as chairman of its ring-fenced UK retail business.
Cheshire, currently the chairman of Debenhams and formerly chief executive of Kingfisher, will start the role at the beginning of April.
The FTSE 100 lender, which reported its full year results last week, had last December sought the approval from the Prudential Regulation Authority for Cheshire’s appointment.
The bank’s decision to take on Cheshire comes despite criticism of his time as a non-executive director of failed mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley. Cheshire spent five years at the company until he stepped down when it was nationalised in 2008.
Barclays’ UK retail unit was set up to meet new ring-fencing rules. The rules have forced major banks to separate retail and investment banking businesses to avoid a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis, which led to the state bailouts of lenders.
Last week Barclays reported an increase in full year pre-tax profit to £3.2bn from £1.2bn the prior year, driven by growth in its core UK and US businesses.