Barclays to Announce New CEO

It is the second time Barclays has approached Mr Staley about becoming its chief executive.

But he said Barclays and other banks lack scale in wealth management, and the main benefit from the business is the liquidity and funding they get from deposits rather than from profits. Barua said: "This makes a capital call even more likely". McFarlane and Staley may seek to be more selective in the businesses they pursue as European competitors such as Deutsche Bank AG and Credit Suisse Group AG retreat.

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.

Mr Jenkins was appointed in 2012 as Barclays began toning down its exposure to investment banking to return to its retail banking roots, in an attempt to fix its reputation in the wake of the Libor-fixing scandal.

"Because we hate investment banking".

With Jenkins lasting barely three years before being pushed out to accelerate the pace of change, Staley now appears to be ready to take on a job at a time when policymakers fear bankers are pushing back against the regulatory changes imposed following the bailout of the UK's banks, announced seven years ago this week.

Barclays could "step into the potential void left", he said. Staley is believed to have accepted the offer from Barclays, according to the unconfirmed market news. Numerous largest global banks have big asset management operations or custody arms.

Unlike Diamond, Staley wasn't a trader.

Staley spent 34 years at JPMorgan, rising from his post as an investment banker in Brazil to run the firm's asset-management and investment-bank units.

Earlier Staley lost out to Jenkins, a long-time Barclays insider, who took the helm at the bank in August 2012.

Barclays has failed with big plans in the past for its wealth business, including an ambitious five-year initiative set out in 2010 known internally as "Project Gamma". After his ouster, McFarlane said the bank was moving too slowly to tackle a "cumbersome and bureaucratic" ethos.

Investors were getting itchy at the labouring investment bank where the key return on equity invested was languishing below 3% - well adrift of the bank's 12% target. Barclays is focusing on investment banking to improve profitability while trimming costs. That muted welcome contrasts with McFarlane's appointment, in July, which sent the stock higher.

If Jes Staley is named the new boss of Barclays - as widely anticipated - it will be a case of second time lucky.

BBC sources have confirmed that former JP Morgan banker James Staley will be taking on the role.

Someone like Staley would be able to better identify the areas in IB where Barclays has a chance to compete, the areas it already covers well, and the talent it needs to hold on to. The bank declined to comment on his appointment yesterday, other than to say the process of recruiting a new chief executive "has not yet concluded" but the news looks to have been strategically leaked to test the political and market reaction.