Chief Executive Jes Staley is leaving the bank after a dispute with British financial regulators over how he described his ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He will be replaced as chief executive by the bank’s head of global markets C.S. Venkatakrishnan, who pledged on Monday to continue his predecessor’s strategy for Britain’s third-biggest bank by market value.
On Friday, Staley’s shock departure comes after Barclays was informed of the unpublished findings of a report by Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) into Staley’s characterisation of his relationship with Epstein, who killed himself in jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on charges related to sex trafficking
The bank stated, “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.”
