Three board members at Barclays will step down in May, due to the requirements of the UK Corporate Governance Code. The change comes as the board prepares to do battle with Edward Bramson, the activist investor.

Barclays said Reuben Jeffery, the chief executive of Rockefeller & Co, economist Dambisa Moyo and Mike Turner, the former chief executive of BAE Systems, will leave their director roles at the bank’s annual general meeting on May 2.