Barclays boss insists he has support of the board
BARCLAYS BOSS Jes Staley has moved to quell shareholder unrest over his conduct, insisting he has the full backing of the board as the lender celebrated a doubling of first quarter profits.
Investors have been urged to abstain from a vote backing his re-election at the bank’s May 10 AGM after it emerged that Mr Staley was being investigated by regulators for breaking rules designed to protect whistleblowers’ anonymity.
However, when asked whether he was offering up his resignation, Mr Staley said: “The answer is no and, as the board said, they unanimously supported me continuing as CEO of the bank.”
It emerged earlier this month that Mr Staley will also have his pay docked over the governance failings which saw him attempt to identify a whistleblower at Barclays.
He added: “What I can say right now is limited given that investigation... as I’ve said, I made a mistake. I was trying to protect a vulnerable colleague, but I should have left the organisation to handle it. I accept the judgment of the board and we are co-operating fully with the regulatory investigation.”
The bank was keen to focus on strong first quarter results, which saw profits more than double as its major restructuring programme – which has seen Mr Staley offload unwanted businesses to focus on UK and US operations – draws to a close.
The lender said group pre-tax profit surged to £1.68bn in the three months to March 31, up from £793m during the same period last year.
Mr Staley said the bank has nearly completed its overhaul, with only three more businesses to exit in Egypt, Zimbabwe and France. However, investors were instead focusing on a 4 per cent drop in income from its investment banking markets division to £1.35bn.