Barclays deputy chairman steps down

Deputy chairman at Barclays, Sir Michael Rake will be leaving the bank to become chairman of Worldpay, a payments processing firm, it has emerged. However, the bank has not yet announced the move to the markets, as Sir Mike has not formally handed in his resignation.

After three years in the role, Sir Mike's departure comes shortly after Barclays boss Antony Jenkins was fired last week. However, analysts believe the exit is unrelated to Mr Jenkins' sacking – since recruitment into the new role at Worldpay would have been a lengthy process.

Sir Mike is also chairman for telecoms firm BT and president of the Confederation of British Industry.

The Telegraph reports that executive chairman John McFarlane has already taken over day-to-day running of the business after the departure of Mr Jenkins – and he plans to push through a series of reforms to the company's internal structure.

With Sir Mike also leaving, it means Mr McFarlane and his board will be an additional member down – and they'll need to start working on recruiting another deputy chairman.

After opening at 275.00, 1p down from yesterday's closing price, Barclays stocks started to head back upwards from around 8:45. At 10:00 BST, they were up to 276.65.

Apple Pay

On Tuesday (July 14th), Barclays confirmed that it would be supporting Apple's mobile payments platform for the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch "in the future".

The news of Barclays signing on meant that all four of the UK's biggest banks – HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Barclays – would support the payment system, which Apple launched in the UK yesterday.

Commenting on the news, Barclays said in a statement: "We are really excited about the launch of Apple Pay and can confirm that we will bring Barclays debit cards and Barclaycard credit cards to Apple Pay in the future."

The technology means that users of the iPhone 6 or Apple watch, who also use one of the banks supporting it, will be able to scan their credit or debit card into the Passbook app and then use the device to make contactless payments of up to £20 without the need for the actual card. The limit will be raised to £30 from September.