Barclays said to be in talks to sell retail operations in Italy and Portugal

Barclays is reportedly in talks with potential buyers of its retail operations in Italy and Portugal as part of an asset disposal programme which the bank's next chief executive will be under pressure to accelerate after Antony Jenkins was ousted on Wednesday.According to Sky News, Barclays has issued information to prospective bidders about the two businesses in recent weeks.The move will speed up the bank's exit from Eurozone economies at a time when the Greek debt debt crisis has sparked fresh concerns about the exposure of British lenders.While it continues to own a significant business in France, the process to dispose of Barclays' operations in Italy and Portugal, which comprise 90 and 85 branches respectively, has emerged just a day after the bank sacked Jenkins, saying it required a new set of leadership skills.Barclays established a non-core unit last year, into which it placed a broad range of loans and businesses accounting for more than £100bn of risk-weighted assets, Sky noted.It has since sold a number of them, including its retail operations in Spain, which were acquired by CaixaBank in a deal that incurred a substantial writedown for Barclays.At 1231 BST, Barclays shares were up 1.5% at 261.02p.