Barclays has announced the hire of investment banking veteran Geoffrey Belsher as its new chairman and country chief executive officer for Canada.

Effective 16 October, Belsher will be based in Toronto and report dually to Richard Haworth, chief exec of the Americas and Cathal Deasy and Taylor Wright, global co-heads of Investment Banking.

During a career in investment banking spanning over 25 years, Belsher was previously the president of Canadian operations of Barclays Capital and its predecessor Lehman Brothers Canada from 2006 to 2008 during which time he formed the Investment Banking offices in Toronto and Calgary. He also served as managing director and global co-head of wholesale banking for CIBC in Toronto for six years between 2009 and 2015.

Barclays said that Belsher will be charged with maintaining a top five position across all products and services and look to disrupt into the top three, “especially in areas like cross-border M&A, equity financing, and high-yield financing”.

The bank holds the largest market share of any non-Canadian bank operating in the country, it said.

Richard Haworth, chief executive of the Americas said: “Geoffrey’s focus, leadership experience, and deep expertise in the Canadian market makes him an ideal choice for this role, and I’m confident that our talented colleagues in Canada will benefit enormously from his guidance and counsel.”

Belsher added: “Barclays has a long and storied history in Canada. I’m incredibly proud to join this team and look forward to this new opportunity at Barclays.”

Elsewhere, Barclays has announced the appointment of Michael Del Giudice as chairman of Financial Sponsors Group. He will be based in New York and report to Jean-Francois Astier, global head of Financial Sponsors Group.

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