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New Barclays Boss Axes CEO ... And Black Cars

He has fired the chief executive and banned flip-flops from the company's headquarters - but they are not the only ways in which the new chairman of Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) has stamped his authority on one of Britain's biggest banks.

Sky News understands that John McFarlane, who took the helm in April, has ditched Barclays' fleet of black executive cars and ordered a set of silver limousines in their place in order to indulge his predilection for the ancient Chinese system of feng shui.

Mr McFarlane is said to have requested that the bank change the colour of the cars it reserves for top executives because of his belief that silver or grey vehicles bring greater harmony to their users.

A person close to Barclays insisted that the bank renewed the lease on its executive cars "every couple of years", and that because it operated a pooled fleet, it decided to order an entirely silver set to meet its chairman's wishes.

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The influence of feng shui in Mr McFarlane's decision-making is well-known, with one disgruntled former executive at ANZ in Australia remarking on his enthusiasm for it.

"He loved that sort of stuff. I guess I am a different person. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) worked for him but it wasn't for me," Steve Targett told The Australian newspaper in 2009.

"I didn't need to see the feng shui consultant come around and put little elephants in the corner of my office and tell me to give money to 10 beggars in 10 days and the like, otherwise I would have bad luck. I'm not that sort of person."

Mr McFarlane, who earned the nickname 'Mac the Knife' for his willingness to sack underperforming colleagues, recently became Barclays' executive chairman following Mr Jenkins' departure.

The decision to oust the chief executive surprised the City, with Mr Jenkins generally felt to be moving towards a turning point in Barclays' performance.

In its half-year results last month, Mr McFarlane said the performance of the group, including the under-scrutiny investment bank, had been pleasing, although he insisted that there was a substantial amount of work to do to improve returns to investors.

Barclays has commenced a search for Mr Jenkins' successor, with regulators and investors keen for a replacement to be identified by the end of the year.

Under the recently departed chief executive, Barclays established a non-core unit, into which it placed a broad range of loans and businesses accounting for more than £100bn of risk-weighted assets.

It has since sold a number of them, including its retail operations in Spain, and is now looking to offload businesses in Italy and Portugal as well as a division which invests in natural resources deals.

Mr McFarlane's reputation as a disciplinarian was reinforced earlier this month when it emerged that he wanted to see flip-flops and jeans banned from Barclays’ Canary Wharf headquarters (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) .