Report: Barclays' deputy chairman Sir Michael Rake to quit - days after the CEO was fired
Sir Michael joined the Barclays board in January 2008 as a non-executive Director and was later appointed as deputy chairman in 2012.
According to Sky News, Sir Michael's appointment as chairman of payments at Worldpay "triggered his exit from the Barclays board."
Meanwhile, The Times said that shareholders will likely to be surprised by Sir Michael's alleged impending departure as he was touted as one of the key people that helped engineer the removal of Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins last week.
Following Jenkins' sacking, Sir Michael said in a statement:
I reflected long and hard on the issue of Group leadership and discussed this with each of the Non-Executive Directors. Notwithstanding Antony's significant achievements, it became clear to all of us that a new set of skills were required for the period ahead. This does not take away from our appreciation of Antony's contribution at a critical time for the company.
However, a Barclays spokesperson told Business Insider in a one line email: "We're not commenting. He hasn't resigned."
Sir Michael is a serial chairman and it wouldn't be completely crazy if he decided to leave Barclays.
He spent over 30 years with KPMG, where he was Senior Partner of the UK firm and Chairman of KPMG International, and was previously the Chairman of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, Chairman of Business in the Community, Chairman of easyJet, and a director of the Financial Reporting Council.
He is currently the Chairman of BT Group. The Times said that when he resigns from Barclays, he is likely to retain his role as BT Chairman.
Meanwhile, if he does resign, all eyes will turn to newly appointed Executive Chairman John McFarlane who is now famous for ousting CEO Antony Jenkins last week.
Barclays' new executive chairman, John McFarlane, told CNBC TV that Jenkins "hadn't done anything wrong ... he's just not the right person to take us forward."