British banking, and Barclays in particular, has seen its share of exotic creatures down the years. Banking correspondents of a certain age still smile wistfully as they recall Matt Barrett, the much-liked former Barclays chief executive, whose marriage to a former glamour model provided no end of colour during his time at the helm.

If anything, Frederick “Frits” Seegers seemed even more intriguing when, in June 2006, he was hired to run Barclays’ global retail banking division. In the previous November Mr Seegers, a Dutchman whose father was chief executive of Philips, the electronics group, had married Kartika Sukarno, a daughter of the first president of Indonesia. Guests at the wedding, including Magawati Sukarnoputri, another former Indonesian president, flew in from 54 countries to the opulent event in Amsterdam, at which the bride wore Prada, the ring came from Bulgari, the dancers were Javanese, the food Indonesian, the caviar Iranian and the champagne French.

After the initial event in Amsterdam, there was a bride’s party in London, a reception in Bali and a gala in Tokyo — although Mr Seegers later played down the event, describing it as a simple gathering of friends from all over the world: “We had a good time, but marriage is personal.”

They couple live in the Boltons, an exclusive area of West London, and have had one child together. Mr Seegers has two children from a previous marriage.

At 51, Mr Seegers has plenty of life left in him, prompting speculation about what he will do after Barclays. An experienced retail banker, he would be a more-than-capable successor to Eric Daniels, should the latter depart from Lloyds Banking Group.

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