Barclays boss fights for his job
As Jes Staley faces probe over links with Jeffrey Epstein . . .
BARCLAYS boss Jes Staley is under mounting pressure to step down after City watchdogs launched an investigation into his ties with billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The 63-year- old American banker stayed in touch with Epstein for seven years after the latter was convicted in 2008 of soliciting a child for prostitution.
Staley visited the sex offender during his 13-month sentence and again in 2015 on Epstein’s private Caribbean retreat dubbed ‘Paedo Island’.
Barclays yesterday insisted it retained ‘full confidence’ in Staley, who was paid £5.9m last year and claims to have had no contact with Epstein since he joined the UK bank in late 2015. But analysts and investors have already begun to call for the American banker’s head to roll.
Neil Wilson, chief markets analyst at Markets.com, said: ‘ Staley really should go. This calls his judgement into question.
‘As far as Barclays is concerned, they won’t want the toxic Epstein name anywhere near them. Even though there’s no suggestion Staley has done anything illegal, the connection is potentially damaging.
‘The board may not want to be seen to just dump Staley, but I would be surprised if they are not looking at another alternative now.’
One City fund manager with a stake in Barclays said the probe raised ‘serious questions’ about whether Staley should remain at the helm of the major bank.
And a senior figure in the investment industry added it was ‘another small nail in Staley’s coffin’.
Epstein killed himself in his cell last year, while facing trial for trafficking underage girls for sex.
The former financier first met Staley in 2000, when Staley became head of JP Morgan’s private bank.
Epstein, who counted President Trump and actor Kevin Spacey among his contacts, was a client there and helped Staley by referring wealthy acquaintances.
But the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a probe into whether the Barclays boss was sufficiently transparent when disclosing his relationship with the paedophile to Barclays. This is not Staley’s first brush with the regulator, and his four-year stint at Barclays has been marred by a string of controversies.
The FCA slapped Staley with a fine of £642,430 in 2018, after he tried to uncover a whistleblower who had reported concerns within the bank. Wilson said: ‘He should have gone after that, because what he did was really naughty.’ A year earlier, Staley had been tricked by an email prankster pretending to be Barclays’ then-chairman John McFarlane.
He had a whole conversation with the prankster, who was in fact a disgruntled customer, believing he was talking to his colleague. More recently he has been plagued by operational issues, including a spat with activist investor Edward Bramson who launched an attack on Barclays’ underperforming investment bank. And last year Staley was forced into an embarrassing U-turn by the Daily Mail, reversing his decision to ban cash withdrawals from post offices.
The move would have shrunk access to cash for many vulnerable customers and those living in rural communities.
Staley( pictured with his wife Debbie) has been paid almost £18m since taking over at Barclays in December 2015. But shares in the lender have fallen 24pc in that time.