Barclays goes back to the future as it hires... another US banker educated in Maine

It appears we may be going back to the future at Barclays. Three years after an unhappy end was brought to the tenure of an American investment banker born in New England and educated at a small, private, liberal arts college in the state of Maine it seems that one Jes Staley is the favourite for the hot seat.

He is, you’ve guessed it, an American investment banker born in New England and educated at a small, private, liberal arts college in the state of Maine. You really couldn’t make this up.

In response to a flurry of reports declaring Mr Staley as the king across the water, Barclays remained coy. “The process of appointing a new Group Chief Executive Officer has not yet concluded,” it sniffed, nearly a day after the news broke.

With news of this import – it is worth noting that there was no denial – one might have expected the bank to be rather quicker to clarify its intentions for its investors, particularly given how the story gathered momentum. Instead of sitting on their hands, they took their own view, and started selling their shares.

That shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Mr Staley is expected to perform a volte face on the company’s retreat from investment banking, set in train by the ousted ex-chief executive Antony Jenkins. Investment banking is, these days, extremely costly in terms of the capital it requires and has always seemed to serve investment bankers better than shareholders.

Mr Staley’s emergence can be seen in the context of the Barclays’ need to get moving. The bank’s regulators have been none too happy ever since its hard charging chairman John McFarlane elbowed Mr Jenkins aside and took control as executive chairman. To avoid a confrontation with them – and I’m told the bank had been given until Christmas to demonstrate progress on the hunt for a new chief executive – it had to move quickly.

Making life difficult is the fact that most of the people with the experience of investment banking desired by Mr McFarlane and with sufficient seniority to take on the job are employed by competitors who would be understandably reluctant to forgive their long notice periods

Mr Staley had been seen as a potential successor to Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan, a capital offence at that bank, before moving to the hedge fund that profited handsomely from the activities of its mega-loss making London Whale trader. As such, he has a bit more wiggle room.

But he may still prove a problematic hire. There’s his history at JP, combined with the fact that the alumni of American investment banks and hedge funds don’t come cheap.

And given what Mr Staley’s facing, why be charitable? He’ll have to contend with Mr McFarlane, who appears to think he should be doing the job, and may not be able to resist back-seat driving, plus a sceptical media and political establishment with bad memories of the end result last time Barclays hired a … well, I won’t repeat it again. Unless you want to be really Machiavellian. Could Mr Staley’s attraction to Barclays be his potential to serve as a stop gap while grooming his youthful former colleague Tushar Morzaria, Barclays incumbent finance director? Ahead of Mr Staley returning to JP when Mr Dimon stands aside? Stranger things have happened.