Barclays boss bids to clean up image

British bank Barclays is to close a profitable but controversial tax advisory business as part of an attempt by its new chief executive to clean up the bank’s image.

Antony Jenkins will announce tomorrow that the bank is closing the structured capital markets business unit. He had already indicated it would go or be scaled back as he ends activities that could cause reputational damage.

“The old ways weren’t the right way to behave nor did they deliver the right results — for banks themselves or for wider society ... banks that fail to change will become failing banks,” Mr Jenkins says in the draft of a speech which lays out his future strategy. Extracts of the text were provided by the bank yesterday.