Barclays has merged its in-house litigation functions and appointed a managing director of group litigation and special investigations to lead the new group.

Jonathan Peddie is taking on the newly-created role after 18 months as director of litigation and special investigations for Barclays Global Retail Banking.

The restructuring, which took place earlier this month, will now see each of Barclays' litigation teams in Global Retail Banking (GRB), Barclays Capital (BarCap) and Barclays Wealth report in to Peddie.

The changes mean that litigation will now operate as a single practice area across the bank's divisions.

Peddie will report to deputy group general counsel Michael Shaw.

A bank spokesperson commented: "Under this new role, each of Barclays' litigation teams in GRB, BarCap and Barclays Wealth will, subject to preserving suitable flexibility to reflect the needs of their own business, adopt a consistent application of policy and best practice to litigation and investigations, with a single point of leadership within the practice area."

The news comes after the merger last year of BarCap and Barclays Corporate's in-house litigation functions, with Barclays GRB litigation head Stephanie Pagni taking up a new role leading the merged team.