IN NOVEMBER 2021, CS Venkatakrishnan was appointed to the position of Barclays group chief executive officer.

His appointment came in the wake of previous chief executive Jes Staley stepping down following misgivings about the way he had described his relationship with disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein to the British financial authorities. Epstein had taken his life in August 2019 whilst in prison on charges of sex trafficking. Staley intends to clear his name and the Barclays board accepted his resignation and moved to appointing Venkatakrishnan, who often goes by the name of Venkat to his colleagues.

He was appointed with immediate effect and took over the role of chief executive, moving across from head of global markets for Barclays. He had recently moved to that position from group chief risk officer – in a move many commentators saw as a stepping stone to the top job.

Like Staley, Venkat has a background as an investment banker at JP Morgan in the US and came across to Barclays in 2016 as a Staley appointment. His elevation to CEO was hasty and unexpected and as such Venkat was not exactly a known quantity to anyone outside the banking world.

Barclays said of his appointment, that he was a “highly regarded leader with significant banking and financial services experience” and that he had extensive knowledge and experience of risk management.

It said he had a “deep understanding of the business” and the markets it operated in.

The banking sector is currently buoyant following the coronavirus crisis, and there is scrutiny of bonuses.

Reporting profits of more than £8 billion, Barclays said its employee pool had risen to £1.9bn – the biggest pot since 2013.

The Times’ reported these results to have been a boost for the 56-year-old Venkat.

He described Staley as a