Former Barclays CEO Jes Staley has been fined £1.8 million by the financial watchdog on top of a ban from holding senior finance roles following concerns over disclosures around his relationship with sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The Financial Conduct Authority said Staley approved the sending of misleading letter to it by Barclays about the nature of his relationship with Epstein and the point of their last contact.
Therese Chambers, FCA director of enforcement and market oversight said: “A CEO needs to exercise sound judgement and set an example to staff at their firm. Mr Staley failed to do this. We consider that he misled both the FCA and the Barclays Board about the nature of his relationship with Mr Epstein.
“Mr Staley is an experienced industry professional and held a prominent position within financial services. It is right to prevent him from holding a senior position in the financial services industry if we cannot rely on him to act with integrity by disclosing uncomfortable truths about his close personal relationship with Mr Epstein.”
In August 2019, the FCA asked Barclays to explain what it had done to satisfy itself that there was no impropriety in the relationship between Mr Staley and Mr Epstein.
Barclays sent a letter to the FCA claiming that Mr Staley did not have a close relationship with Mr Epstein. But emails between the two revealed that Staley described Mr Epstein as one of his ‘deepest’ and ‘most cherished’ friends.
Barclays’ letter also claimed Staley ceased contact with Mr Epstein well before he joined the British bank. But Staley was in fact in contact with Mr Epstein in the days leading up to his appointment as CEO being announced on 28 October 2015.
“While Mr Staley did not draft the letter there was no excuse for his failure to correct the misleading statements when he was the only person at Barclays who knew the full extent of his personal relationship with Mr Epstein,” the FCA said.
“The FCA considers that, in failing to correct the misleading statements in the letter, Mr Staley recklessly misled the FCA and acted with a lack of integrity.”
More to follow
