Richard Taylor, who takes over from Tom King as the European head of the investment banking division, has had the best part of two years to prepare for the role.

Currently the bank's head of UK and Ireland investment banking, Taylor joined Barclays at the beginning of 2011 from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he had spent 10 years, latterly as the head of UK investment and corporate banking and before that as head of German investment banking.