Barclays, the parent of Barclays Wealth, has restructured its businesses into new units, in a move that sees the surprise departure of Frits Seegers, the chief executive of its retail and commercial arm.

The UK-listed bank announced yesterday that its new Corporate and Investment Banking and Wealth Management unit will include its Barclays Capital unit, commercial bank and wealth management activities and will be overseen by group president Bob Diamond.

“Jerry del Missier and Rich Ricci will be co-chief executives of the Corporate and Investment Bank. Tom Kalaris, chief executive of Barclays Wealth, will continue to lead the Wealth Management business. Jerry del Missier, Tom Kalaris, and Rich Ricci will report to Robert Diamond,” the statement by the bank said.

In another change, a new business division called Global Retail Banking, will be formed, comprising UK Retail Banking, Barclaycard and the former GRCB Western Europe and Emerging Markets businesses. This will be led by Antony Jenkins, currently chief executive of Barclaycard. He will report to John Varley, group CEO.

Barclays is due to issue an interim statement on its results on 10 November.

The executive changes announced yesterday take immediate effect.

There have been a number of changes at Barclays Wealth in recent weeks. The firm appointed Andrew Tinney as its new chief operating officer, recruiting him in September from Deutsche Bank, where he was chief financial officer for its UK operations. He previously worked at Deloitte and Andersen Business Consulting.

Meanwhile, this publication exclusively reported that Richard Howarth, regional market leader for Africa, who has been at the firm for four years, has left to pursue other opportunities. In addition, Kevin Lecocq, head of Barclays Wealth’s investment and product office, has resigned from the firm.