When Nigel Higgins was appointed chairman of Barclays three years ago, some close observers predicted he would quickly look for a successor to Jes Staley, and scale back the chief executive’s expansion of its investment bank. The forecasts could not have proved more wrong.

Not only did Higgins stand by Staley, despite regulators' mounting concern over the chief executive’s personal judgment, the former Rothschild veteran strongly backed the investment bank strategy in the face of continued scepticism from investors.