Barclays looks outside for next chairman Barclays has decided to search for its next chairman from outside the bank after a shareholder revolt against the proposed appointment of board member Sir Michael Rake persuaded the BT chairman to withdraw his candidacy. Several top investors had made it clear to the bank that while they may have nothing against Sir Mike per se, they were determined that Barclays" next chairman should be an outsider, untarnished by associations with the Libor scandal or other affairs that brought the bank into conflict with regulators. The Financial Times revealed the investor campaign a fortnight ago. One top 10 shareholder said at the time: "We have been quite clear [with the board] that we'd like to see an external appointment as chairman. Marcus Agius, the outgoing chairman, resigned early this month, followed a day later by chief executive Bob Diamond after the Financial Services Authority and the Bank of England both made clear a change of leadership was necessary. Shortly before the resignations, Barclays had reached a £290m settlement with regulators in the UK and US over the attempt of some staff to manipulate Libor, the key benchmark borrowing rate, over an extended period from 2005 to 2009. Although there is no evidence that the board or Sir Michael - a non-executive on the board since 2008 and recently elevated to deputy chairman - had known of the affair, at least three top 10 investors made clear they wanted a fresh start for chairman. Sir Michael has also been head of the audit committee, signing off on some of the accounting practices that brought Barclays into conflict with regulators and the government. Barclays is not now expected to find either a new chairman or chief executive at least until the autumn. Banks have struggled to find suitable chairmen as the financial crisis has damaged the reputation of so many potential candidates. Among those mentioned internally and by people close to Barclays as a potential chairman are Hector Sants, outgoing FSA chief executive; Glen Moreno, chairman of Pearson, which owns the Financial Times, and a former board member at Lloyds Banking Group; Lord O'Donnell, former head of the civil service and also a potential candidate to be the next governor of the Bank of England; and Lord Davies, the former Standard Chartered chairman, although he has told friends he has no interest in the role.