I will reform Barclays - new CEO

Cape Town - Barclay’s group chief executive Antony Jenkins this weekend spoke out about the need for corporate business to operate ethically, and said he will be accountable for implementing change.

Jenkins was speaking to 1 300 young leaders attending the One Young World summit in Pittsburgh. He told them he is putting his words into action and they can hold him accountable for that.

Jenkins took the reins in August after an interest rigging scandal lead to the resignation of the chairperson, chief operating officer and group chief executive.

In July, Barclays was fined £290m by British and US regulators for attempted manipulation of Libor and Euribor interbank interest rates between 2005 and 2009.

"So, the, sort of, visible, tangible, example of what happens when a business does not serve all of its stakeholders became very personal for me... (two months after) I was asked to lead Barclays as group chief executive, so now I have to put my words into action and you can hold me accountable for that.”

Outlining his plans to reform Barclays in the wake of the Libor scandal, Jenkins stressed the need for corporate businesses to take responsibility for their own actions, and not rely on existing regulation.

"Large organisations have to take responsibility for their own behaviours and actions. And I actually believe that businesses that operate in an ethical way will ultimately be more successful.”

Jenkins said he is in the process of crafting a purpose for the Barclays group.

“Right now, (at) Barclay’s, I don’t think you could say that we have an expressed purpose that operates across the organisation.

"Next week we are going to spend time at Barclays looking at what our core values are, and defining a balanced scorecard for the institution. What that's really about is setting goals, targets, metrics for each of our stakeholders, for our customers and clients, for our colleagues and for broader. We will do all that work and get that done by the end of the year."

One Young World, a charity cofounded by David Jones and South African Kate Robertson stages an annual Summit, gathering together the brightest young people from around the world.  Forty-four young South Africans are representing the country this weekend.

In October 2013, the One Young World summit will take place in Johannesburg, South Africa.