City watchdog told to lift ban on ex-barclays bank executive
THE CITY watchdog has been forced to lift a ban on a former Barclays banker who was accused of hiding a critical report on his team’s “high-risk” culture.
Andrew Tinney, who was the chief operating officer of Barclays Wealth, resigned in 2012 following allegations that he suppressed a critical analysis of the maverick culture and bullying inside the unit’s American arm.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) later decided to publicly censure him and bar him from senior posts in financial services. Mr Tinney challenged the ban, commenting at the time: “I do not accept that any of my actions can be construed as misconduct.”
A court ruling made public yesterday found that although he breached his obligation to act with integrity by giving the impression that the document did not exist, he did not need to be banned from taking on another senior role in the City and did not mislead regulators or his colleagues.
Mr Tinney’s lawyers said the City watchdog “went after the wrong person” and argued that the bank’s top bosses “scapegoated” its client.
Harvey Knight, Mr Tinney’s lawyer, said: “Mr Tinney is free to work again in the financial services industry in any role. This is telling. The FCA has serious questions to answer about why it decided to pursue this case.”
Mr Tinney had been made responsible for an internal review at Barclays after the US Securities & Exchange Commission flagged concerns about the business. In 2012 the Barclays chairman at the time received an anonymous email alleging that the report into the matter had been suppressed, the FCA said.
The review found that the division “had pursued a course of revenue at all costs and had a culture that was high risk and actively hostile to compliance”, the FCA said in 2016. The report did not mention or criticise Mr Tinney.
Mark Steward, head of enforcement for the FCA, said that Mr Tinney “failed to act with integrity in one telling instance, which is enough to justify [public] censure” and that “senior management must be held to high standards of integrity”.
A spokesman for Barclays declined to comment.