Barclays may not pick its next chief executive until early next year, potentially leaving new chairman John McFarlane in charge for at least eight months.
Antony Jenkins left the bank on Wednesday and Mr McFarlane said he was in no rush to name a successor and will conduct a global search of internal and external candidates.
He told staff the appointment may not take place until the spring, according to comments made at an employee meeting, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Another person familiar with the matter said the new CEO could be named at the tail end of this year but it was more likely to be in February or March.
"We're not going to move quickly on this," McFarlane told reporters on a conference call on Wednesday following the ousting of Jenkins.
"These things take time. It gives time for the internal people to show what they can do and it gives time to identify thoroughly the external people that haven't been identified in other searches," he added.
The bank's finance director Tushar Morzaria is the favourite to succeed Jenkins, although even if he is chosen McFarlane may want to work alongside Morzaria as executive chairman for a substantial period to accelerate the bank's turnaround plan.
Other candidates could include Morgan Stanley executive Colm Kelleher or Australia and New Zealand Bank CEO Mike Smith, industry sources said.
If Barclays opts for an external candidate it could take up to a year for the new recruit to take the reins, depending on the conditions of their current contract.
McFarlane, who only joined the bank in April, is assuming executive duties until a permanent successor is appointed - similar to what he did at UK insurer Aviva.
Barclays is the fourth major European bank to change CEO this year, following Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and Standard Chartered as investors grow impatient with low share prices and stubbornly high costs.
One of the key tasks of the new CEO will be to accelerate changes to Barclays' investment bank, expected to be further slimmed down to cut costs and improve profitability.
The bank played down a report in Britain's Times newspaper that investment bank head boss Tom King would leave the bank by next March.
"Tom King is fully committed to leading the investment bank and on the implementation of the operational plan agreed with the board just two weeks ago. There are no plans in regards to Mr King's departure from Barclays," a spokeswoman said today.
King had considered retiring early after a row last month with Jenkins over the scale of cuts in the investment bank, but was persuaded to stay by McFarlane, a source said previously.
