Barclays poaches rival HSBC chief

Barclays Bank has lured top marketer Belinda Furneaux-Harris from high-street rival HSBC (Midland) to take control of marketing in its retail division.

Furneaux-Harris, HSBC’s head of marketing services, will replace Barclays’ Michael Head as head of marketing communications next month. He is retiring.

Furneaux-Harris will report to Ian Richardson, managing director of retail customers.

She will take overall responsibility for marketing Barclays’ retail arm, and will be senior to head of brands and advertising, John Laidlaw, who joined from sister company Barclaycard earlier this year (MW May 20).

Barclays spends &£18m a year on advertising.

The company appointed Leagas Delaney to the account earlier this year (MW May 13) following a head to head pitch with J Walter Thompson – its incumbent for seven years.

Leagas Delaney’s first campaign will move away from the recent product-based advertising strategy and look to build the Barclays brand.

The campaign was originally scheduled to break this summer, but is understood to have been postponed until next year as Barclays looks to shore up its financial performance (MW July 29).

Barclays reported a 21 per cent fall in profits to &£970m for the six months to June 30.

An HSBC spokeswoman confirms the bank is looking for a replacement for Furneaux-Harris, who reported to group marketing director Alan Hughes.