Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.
We start with some breaking news — Jes Staley, the chief executive of Barclays Bank, is stepping down, following an investigation into his dealings with the sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The move follows an investigation into the way Staley described his relationship with Epstein to Barclays, which began early last year.
In a statement, Barclays says:
Barclays and Mr Jes Staley, Group Chief Executive, were made aware on Friday evening of the preliminary conclusions from the FCA and the PRA of their investigation into Mr Staley’s characterisation to Barclays of his relationship with the late Mr Jeffrey Epstein and the subsequent description of that relationship in Barclays’ response to the FCA.
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.
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.
Back in February 2020, an inquiry was launched into Staley’s characterisation of his dealings with Epstein, after emails between the two men were handed to the UK regulators by their counterparts in the US.
Staley, who joined Barclays in 2015, worked with Epstein during his time at JP Morgan. He took over running the JP Morgan private bank in 2000, when Epstein was already a client.
Staley remained in touch with Epstein for seven years after the financier was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008;. He visited Epstein in Florida in 2009 while he was still serving his sentence and out on work release, and sailed his own yacht, the Bequia, to Epstein’s private Caribbean island in 2015.
Staley has said his final contact with the financier was in “middle to late 2015”, shortly before he took over as Barclays’ chief executive in December.
Barclays adds that they are “disappointed” at this outcome:
The Board is disappointed at this outcome. Mr Staley has run the Barclays Group successfully since December 2015 with real commitment and skill. Supported by the senior team which he largely helped build and on whom the Barclays Group will be relying for the future, Mr Staley clarified the Barclays Group’s strategy, transformed its operations and materially improved its results.
The regulatory process still has to run its full course and it is not appropriate for Barclays to comment further on the preliminary conclusions.
Staley is to be replaced by C.S. Venkatakrishnan, known as Venkat, Barclays’ global head of markets, who was made a co-president of Barclays in September 2020.
The bank says:
The Board has had succession planning in hand for some time, including reviewing potential external appointees, and identified Venkat as its preferred candidate for this role over a year ago, as a result of which he moved from the position of Group Chief Risk Officer to Head of Global Markets.
More to follow…
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