Rich Ricci, the chief executive of corporate and investment banking at Barclays, said management was overly optimistic about the global fee pool when it chose to expand the business in the wake of the Lehman Brothers acquisition. But he told Financial News this week that he was committed to new chief executive Antony Jenkins' strategy for the investment bank.

During the bank's strategy day in London this week, group chief executive Antony Jenkins repeatedly refused to give his backing to Ricci by name, saying only that he had confidence in the entire executive team at Barclays.