Bob Diamond's lieutenant rules himself out of Barclays top job The news comes ahead of Barclays" second-quarter results on Friday, which will be presented by the bank's chief financial officer, Chris Lucas. Consensus estimates forecast a pre-tax profit of £1.67bn on sales of £7.29bn in the three months to June which is likely to be flat year-on-year. Investment banking revenues are likely to have fallen in the region of 28pc. With Mr Ricci all-but out of the running for the CEO role, insiders believe that there is only one viable internal candidate - Naguib Kheraj, the former chief financial officer who is now a senior adviser to the bank. Mr Ricci's divisional counterparts - Anthony Jenkins who runs the retail bank and Tom Kalaris who runs the wealth management arm - are both thought not to have enough experience. The search process is being led by the board in conjunction with headhunters Spencer Stuart. One institutional investor, who sits within the top 15 of Barclays" share holders, said the priority for a new chief executive was someone who was not afraid of making disposals at Barclays. It's too big, it needs slimming down a bit. That would help the capital position," said the investor, who asked not to be named. It is likely that candidates for both chairman and chief executive must now be found from outside the bank, increasing the time it will take to find solutions, due to the rigorous regulatory checks that the Financial Services Authority will want to undertake on candidates. Meanwhile it is understood Mr Ricci is pressing ahead with his plans to help revive the investment banking division's reputation, following the announcement of the creation of a Business Practices committee. The committee's workload will be split into three areas. One, focusing on business conduct and chaired by global research head Larry Kantor and corporate banking chief John Winter, will seek to define "good behaviour" within the bank. The other two, chaired by Mr Ricci, will focus on returns - including which businesses to keep - and on reward policies and compensation.