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“During this period, the company will run normally, and I will continue to be actively engaged in managing it,” he said. “However, I will have to work from home for some periods and not be able to travel. Fortunately, I have always exercised regularly and am strong and fit as I commence this treatment.”

He added: “The board has been kept apprised of my situation and I am enormously grateful for their support.”

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Venkat took over as Barclays chief executive in November last year after Jes Staley stepped down amid an investigation into his links with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He has largely stuck with Staley’s strategy of going toe-to-toe with large US investment banks and having a presence in all business lines.

Venkat is not the first bank chief executive to continue to work through cancer treatment. In 2015, then Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein announced that he had a “highly curable” form of lymphoma, remaining in charge of the US bank as he underwent chemotherapy. He was cured around a year later.

In 2014, JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon underwent treatment for throat cancer, but remained at the helm of the bank. Howard Lutnick, chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald, was also diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but stayed in charge of the organisation.

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To contact the author of this story with feedback or news, email Paul Clarke