Kate Bowes, director of corporate affairs for Barclays Bank, is to leave
in January after 18 months with the group.
Previously head of corporate affairs for five years at the London Stock
Exchange, Bowes joined Barclays in July 1995 to manage a wide-ranging
review of its corporate communications and develop a brand strategy for
the group.
Heading a team of 38 staff and reporting directly to chief executive
Martin Taylor, she was responsible for press and public relations,
public affairs, community affairs and internal communications for the
group’s 80,000 staff worldwide. Investor relations is handled separately
by IR head Elizabeth Wade.
Under Bowes’ restructuring press and PR, public affairs, internal
communications and investor relations will be grouped together under
Wade, who takes the title of director of corporate communications.
Responsibility for the three remaining communications functions -
European lobbying, community affairs and brand strategy - will fall
under finance director Oliver Stocken, chairman Andrew Buxton and board
director Graham Pimlott respectively.
Bowes, who has not yet lined up another job, claimed that she was
leaving because her job at Barclays had largely been completed.
‘I have finished the brief I agreed with Martin Taylor and I’ve sort of
reviewed myself out of a job,’ she said. ‘I would prefer to take on a
broader role within an organisation.’