Barclays today announced a wide-sweeping shake-up of its executive committee, which will see Frits Seegers resign after only three years while the high-flyer Antony Jenkins steps up to head a new global retail banking division.

Mr Seegers, who joined in 2006 with a £12 million pay deal as the chief executive of global retail and commercial banking, will leave after a handover period, but steps down as a director with immediate effect.

Mr Jenkins, who oversees Barclaycard, will now also have responsibility for UK retail banking and what was formally known as global retail and commercial banking in Western Europe and emerging markets.

A new division will be created, called global retail banking.

This year, Mr Jenkins received several million pounds in compensation for not being promoted to the executive committee after he joined Barclays in 2006 from Citigroup.

At that time, Mr Seegers was hired, also from Citigroup, but, unlike Mr Jenkins, was given a place on the executive board.

John Varley, chief executive of Barclays, had decided to reorganise the bank to create a retail and commercial banking empire to balance the ballooning investment banking operation run by Bob Diamond.

Mr Varley hired Mr Seegers to run the new division, intending that he would be a heavyweight to counterbalance Mr Diamond.

Mr Diamond will head a new corporate and investment banking and wealth management group, adding commercial banking to his remit.

Jerry del Missier and Rich Ricci will be co-chief executives of the corporate and investment bank. Tom Kalaris, chief executive of Barclays Wealth, will continue to lead the wealth management business.

Barclays said that Mr Missier, Mr Ricci and Mr Kalaris will join the executive committee, as will Maria Ramos, chief executive of Absa, Barclays' South African bank.

There has been speculation in recent months that a shake-up was in the works after Mr Varley said that global retail and commercial banking had suffered from “headwinds” because of the weakness of economies around the world.

Barclaycard and the UK retail bank together contributed half the profits made by the division run by Mr Seegers in the six months to June 30. In contrast, the City expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of the retail and commercial bank in the rest of Europe and in emerging markets.

Mr Seegers is seen in some quarters as a difficult character, and his lavish lifestyle, which includes travelling by Gulfstream jet, has raised eyebrows. He is married to Kartika Sukarno, daughter of the late President Sukarno of Indonesia. The wedding involved receptions in London, Bali and Tokyo.

However, Mr Seegers’s admirers considered him good at setting demanding targets and driving his businesses to meet them. Some believed that he was biding his time at Barclays until a role as chief executive of a bank became available, possibly on the Continent.

Mark Harding, group general counsel, Robert Le Blanc, chief risk officer, and Cathy Turner, group human resources director, will join the executive committee.

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