Barclays chief Jes Staley says there are more sales to come

Barclays chief executive Jes Staley plans to continue his drive to ditch assets outside the US and UK.

Staley has already begun selling off Barclays’ African arm, a controversial move given its longstanding involvement in that continent.

Staley, who took over in December from the ousted Antony Jenkins, has pledged to slash costs and boost returns to shareholders. He told Bloomberg: “If you can generate a return above your cost of capital, I think you’re doing reasonably well. What we need to do is close the things that are our outside our core bank.”

According to the City rumour mill, that strategy could put him at odds with his chairman, John McFarlane, the feng shui devotee who was opposed to the Africa sale originally, but has since come on board.

So far, Staley has pulled Barclays’ investment bank out of seven Asian countries to concentrate on London and New York. The former JPMorgan banker has cut the bank’s dividend in half to boost the balance sheet.