If there had never been a banking crisis, news that Bob Diamond will take over as chief executive at Barclays would barely deserve comment. After all, the American not only runs the UK bank’s biggest division – Barclays Capital is expected to contribute something like 60 per cent of profits in 2012 – but has become almost a mascot for the whole group’s dramatic expansion into capital markets. Besides, he has been groomed for the role for several years.
In a crisis-free world, some incurable cynic would perhaps have said the board should have at least interviewed other candidates before anointing the insider. Or a patriot might have moaned that two of the three most recent bosses of this British institution were foreigners (outgoing John Varley has just the right accent but his predecessor Matt Barrett was an Irish-Canadian).
But in the post-crisis world, it is notable that the man who bet the bank on a business that sunk rivals has easily taken the top slot. In Mr Diamond’s defence, Barclays had a good crisis. It took no government money directly (while gaining handsomely from the official rescues, and dodging disaster by being outbid for ABN Amro). Lehman Brothers’ North American operations were bought at the right moment (the trough) and the right price (close to zero). Still, BarCap has yet to prove that in a tougher regulatory environment it can earn a return on equity much above its cost of capital.