Following a dispute with British financial regulators, Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley is quitting the bank. The row
The bank’s head of global markets C.S. Venkatakrishnan will now replace Staley as chief executive. Venkatakrishnan had pledged on Monday to continue his predecessor’s strategy for Britain’s third-biggest bank by market value.
Staley’s departure comes after Barclays was informed on Friday of the unpublished findings of a report by Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) into Staley’s characterisation of his relationship with Epstein. Epstein killed himself in jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on charges related to sex trafficking.
“In view of those conclusions, and Mr Staley’s intention to contest them, the Board and Mr Staley have agreed that he will step down from his role as Group Chief Executive and as a director of Barclays,” the bank said.
“It should be noted that the investigation makes no findings that Mr Staley saw, or was aware of, any of Mr Epstein’s alleged crimes, which was the central question underpinning Barclays’ support for Mr Staley following the arrest of Mr Epstein in the summer of 2019,” it said in a statement.
The investigation is not yet published, though regulators have said previously that the probe was focused on how truthful Staley was about his ties to Epstein. If Staley is found to have misled regulators he could face a fine and even a ban from Britain’s financial industry or both.
Barclays shares fell 2% following the announcement, before paring losses to trade down 1% at 1315 GMT, underperforming European rivals.
