New Barclays chief set to scale back investment banking

LONDON (AFP) - The new boss of British lender Barclays wants to shrink its investment bank division as he seeks to move on from rate-rigging and mis-selling scandals, he indicated in an interview published on Sunday.

Chief executive Antony Jenkins told The Sunday Times newspaper that there was "no doubt" that tough banking sector regulations would "make some activities in investment banking difficult to make an adequate return on".

He added that profits would be hit by British plans to force banks to ringfence their retail activities.

At the same time, Europe's major banks will also be forced to hold more cash as a buffer against any other financial crises, under looming Basel III rules.