Barclays on Thursday appointed Antony Jenkins as chief executive with immediate effect, replacing Robert Diamond, and plugging a gap in leadership atop the embattled UK bank.

The appointment of Jenkins, who currently leads the Barclays retail and business banking business, comes as the bank prepares to face a number of lawsuits following an interbank lending scandal as well as an investigation by the UK's Serious Fraud Office over payments made in 2008 to Qatar's sovereign wealth fund.