Barclays new chief pledges to clean house

The head of Barclays’ retail and business banking operations is moving on up; he’s been named as its new chief executive.

Antony Jenkins will fill the post vacated recently by Bob Diamond, in the wake of a scandal over attempts to manipulate LIBOR.

“We have made serious mistakes in recent years and clearly failed to keep pace with our stakeholders’ expectations,” Jenkins says.

“We have an obligation to all 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.”

Read: Diamond forfeits bonuses and Diamond talks tough

But, his luck is no better than Diamond’s it seems. Just yesterday, Barclays disclosed that Britain’s Serious Fraud Office is looking into payments the bank made to Qatar Holdings. The funds raised in the Middle East saved the bank from taking a government bailout during the 2008 crisis.

Read: Barclays at it again

Its retail division, Jenkins’ old department, also has its own problems. It’s set aside $1.3 billion pounds being set aside to compensate household and business loan customers who were sold payment protection insurance they didn’t need.

Read: Barclays a top world bank: Euromoney

Shore Capital analyst Gary Greenwood says the current investigation “further highlights Barclays’ somewhat murky past under its previous leadership, and the need for the new management team to clean up the company’s culture, processes and image.”

Barclays shares were down 1.5% at 183 pence in midday trading in London.

As group chief executive, Jenkins will receive 1.1 million pounds a year and be eligible for bonuses up to four times that amount.