Barclays named Hugh E. McGee III, one of the firm's senior deal makers, as its most senior corporate and investment banker in the Americas on Thursday, as part of a broader reorganization within the British bank.
Mr. McGee, who goes by Skip, will become the firm's chief executive of corporate and investment banking for the Americas, according to an internal memorandum reviewed by DealBook. In that role, he will work closely with Rich Ricci, Barclays' the chief executive of corporate and investment banking worldwide.
He will also move up from being the head of the investment banking division to its chairman. Tom King, currently a head of corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions, will take over as head of the unit next year.
The firm also announced that it was combining its fixed-income and equities sales and trading teams into one markets division. It named Eric Bommensath, the head of the fixed-income business, as the head of the new division.
A spokeswoman for Barclays confirmed the contents of the memo.
A longtime energy banker, Mr. McGee arrived at Barclays when the British firm bought the bulk of Lehman Brothers‘ investment banking operations in 2008. Among the deals he has worked on were XTO Energy's $31 billion sale to Exxon Mobil in 2009, Kinder Morgan‘s $21.1 billion takeover of the El Paso Corporation last year and Kerr-McGee's $16.5 billion sale to Anadarko in 2006.
Other changes announced on Thursday include naming Gerald A. Donini, the head of equities, as the chief operating officer for corporate and investment banking.
The change-up at the investment bank takes place at a time when questions have been raised about the business's future role within Barclays. An upheaval in the bank's management in the wake of an interest rate manipulation led to Antony Jenkins, formerly head of the bank's retail business, recently being named chief executive, replacing Robert Diamond, a former i nvestment banker. Analysts and shareholders have speculated on whether Mr. Jenkins will choose to shed the riskier, more aggressive arm of the bank that has drawn sharp scrutiny from regulators.
