London, United Kingdom - September 7, 2010, London, United Kingdom - Barclays PLC and Barclays Bank PLC announced that John Varley will step down as group CEO, and from the boards and the group executive committee, effective March 31, 2011.
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Mr. Varley will be succeeded by Robert E Diamond, Jr. from 1 October 2010, and Mr. Diamond will be President and Deputy Group Chief Executive.
Mr. Varley was appointed as Group Chief Executive on 1 September 2004, prior to which he had been Group Deputy Chief Executive from 1 January 2004.
Mr. Varley held the position of Group Finance Director from 2000 until the end of 2003. John joined the Executive Committee in September 1996 and was appointed to the Board in June 1998.
Mr. Varley was Chief Executive of Retail Financial Services from 1998 to 2000 and Chairman of the Asset Management Division from 1995 to 1998.
Mr. Varley is a non-executive director of pharmaceuticals company AstraZeneca PLC. He is also Chairman of Business Action on Homelessness, President of the Employers' Forum on Disability, President of the UK Drug Policy Commission and a member of the International Advisory Panel of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Mr. Diamond is President of Barclays PLC and Chief Executive of Corporate and Investment Banking and Wealth Management, comprising Barclays Capital, Barclays Corporate and Barclays Wealth.
Mr. Diamond is an Executive Director of the Boards of Barclays PLC and Barclays Bank PLC and has been a member of the Barclays Group Executive Committee since September 1997. He joined the firm in summer 1996.
Mr. Diamond is also a Board Member of BlackRock following the integration of Barclays Global Investors.
Mr. Diamond was formerly Vice Chairman and Head of Global Fixed Income and Foreign Exchange at CS First Boston. Based in New York, he was a member of the Executive Board and Operating Committee of CS First Boston.
Mr. Diamond joined CS First Boston in 1992. Based in Tokyo, he was Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of CS First Boston Pacific, responsible for Investment Banking, Equity, Fixed Income and Foreign Exchange for the Pacific region.
Previously, Mr. Diamond was Managing Director and Head of Fixed Income Trading for Morgan Stanley International, spending 13 years with the firm.
Mr. Diamond began his career as a lecturer at the School of Business, University of Connecticut from 1976-1977.
Mr. Diamond received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Colby College in Maine (1974) and an MBA from the University of Connecticut, where he ranked first in his class (1977). ■