Barclays appoints retail head as new CEO

LONDON — Barclays PLC has picked the head of its retail and business banking operations to become the group’s new chief executive.

The bank announced Thursday that Antony Jenkins would fill the post vacated by the resignation of Bob Diamond in the wake of a scandal over attempting to manipulate a key interest rate index.

The 51-year-old Jenkins takes over just as the bank has been hit by more bad news. Barclays disclosed on Wednesday that Britain’s Serious Fraud Office was looking into the bank’s payments to advisers when it raised more than 5 billion pounds ($8 billion) of emergency capital at the height of the global financial crisis.

Jenkins says the bank had made serious mistakes in recent years but now had an opportunity to restore its reputation.