Barclays has appointed Wells Fargo’s Jim Birchenough to serve as its chair of global healthcare investment banking.

Birchenough Previously served as vice chairman of biopharma investment banking at Wells Fargo and he held similar roles at BMO Capital Markets and Lehman Brothers. The executive, who will be based in San Francisco, returns to Barclays having spent three years as senior vice president of Barclays Investment Bank between 2008-2011.

Back at Barclays, Birchenough will oversee its global biopharma investment banking unit alongside Alexis de Rosnay, who is taking on an expanded role in addition to his responsibilities as chair of global healthcare and investment banking.

The news was first reported by Reuters and later confirmed by Barclays.

Barclays’ healthcare investment banking business has been looking for stability since vice chair Darren Campili was poached by Wells Fargo earlier this year. The investment bank has also lost more than two dozen US-based bankers since January when it named Cathal Deasy and Taylor Wright – two newcomers to the business – as its co-heads of investment banking.

Commenting on the hire of Birchenough, Richard Landgarten, global head of healthcare and real estate investment banking at Barclays, said: "Jim has a real track record and it's well known within the industry, both from his tenure as a banker and his tenure as a research analyst.”

Share Story: