Barclays is a tale of two cities; more precisely, a tale of the City and the high street. While Bob Diamond, president of Barclays, is empire building the investment bank with swashbuckling rhetoric (and deep pockets), his retail banking chief has made do with some rather unglamorous bolt-ons.

Frits Seegers, chief executive of Barclays Global Retail and Commercial Banking, picked up more small fry on Monday with the agreement to buy Standard Life Bank for £226m.