One of the industry's leading players in the capital provider sector, Des Potter, has left Barclays Capital Markets team after it was announced the division will be restructured.

Potter, who was named in Insurance Times Top 50 power list last year, had worked for Barclays for 27 years and helped bankroll many insurers, Lloyd's start-ups and regional brokers.

In recent years he advised major consolidators such as Towergate and Oval, and helped Lloyd's insurer SVB.

Last year, he also backed the developing run-off sector and was key in driving the Barclays team forward to rival its main insurance sector competitor Royal Bank of Scotland.

It is understood Potter will take a few months off before returning to the market in September after being approached by a number of insurers and brokers.

The Barclays Capital Markets insurance division team will now split into two sections: one for Barclays Top 50 global insurance-related clients, and the other for purely UK insurance business, merging the life and pensions, and non-life teams.