Barclays’ support for Staley was questionable, says adviser group

Barclays’ backing of Jes Staley despite his links with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein raises questions about the board’s judgment, according to a leading shareholder advisory body.

Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) said the bank’s board would face scrutiny over its support of the former chief executive given the ‘disturbing nature’ of the charges against Epstein.

However, it stopped short of calling on investors to stage a revolt at next month’s AGM.

Epstein was a client of Staley’s when the latter was a senior executive at US bank JP Morgan.

The disgraced financier was found dead in 2019 while awaiting trial on abuse and trafficking charges. By then, Staley had become boss of Barclays.

The bank backed him in 2020 after City regulators launched a probe, saying he ‘retains the full confidence of the board’. 

But Staley quit in 2021 following preliminary findings by the regulators though Barclays said it was ‘disappointed at this outcome’.

He has since been named in a series of lawsuits centring on Epstein’s behaviour.

ISS said ahead of the meeting: ‘The decision to support Staley between the death of Epstein and Staley’s resignation will draw scrutiny.’

The group said there were ‘questions over the judgment exercised’.