Jes Staley: ex-Barclays boss fined £1.8m by FCA for misleading watchdog over relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

Former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley has been fined £1.8million by the Financial Conduct Authority after misleading the watchdog over the nature of his relationship to Jeffrey Epstein.

In addition to his £1.8m fine, Mr Staley has also been banned from holding senior roles in the financial sector. It comes after he "recklessley approved" a letter sent from Barclays to the FCA which claimed that the former boss was not close with the paedophile financier Epstein, according to the watchdog. However, emails were uncovered in which Mr Staley described Esptein, who dies inc custody in 2019, as one of his "deepest" and "most cherished" friends.

Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “A CEO needs to exercise sound judgement and set an example to staff at their firm. Mr Staley failed to do this. We consider that he misled both the FCA and the Barclays board about the nature of his relationship with Mr Epstein.

“Mr Staley is an experienced industry professional and held a prominent position within financial services. It is right to prevent him from holding a senior position in the financial services industry if we cannot rely on him to act with integrity by disclosing uncomfortable truths about his close personal relationship with Mr Epstein.”

In response to the decision Barclays said that Mr Staley would no longer be eligible, or forfeit, his bonuses and share awards. The total of these comes of £17.8m. In a statement, the bank said:  “As previously disclosed, the remuneration committee of the board of Barclays exercised its discretion to suspend all of Mr Staley’s deferred bonus and LTIP awards pending further developments in respect of the regulatory and legal proceedings related to the FCA and PRA investigation regarding Mr Staley. Following consideration of the detailed findings in the decision notice and the information referred to in it, the remuneration committee has concluded that Mr Staley should be ineligible for or forfeit a number of awards.”

A spokesman for the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority said: “We support the FCA’s decision announced today against Jes Staley. It is imperative that senior managers act with integrity and are open and co-operative with the regulators.”