Barclay’s Boss Faces Fine for Whistleblower Hunt

Barclay’s Chief Executive Jes Staley will be fined by regulators who also reprimanded him for using the bank’s security apparatus to try to find a whistleblower who raised concerns about the recruitment of one of his friends, Tim Main, to head its group in New York.Staley is paid 9.3 million British Pounds ($12.59 million) annually but the size of the fine wasn’t revealed, the British newspaper The Guardian said in a report which added he will not lose his job.

The bank’s board had received letters in 2016 about Main. The paper said it had seen an email in which he accused the letter writer of harassment and trying to “maliciously smear” Main, a former colleague when Staley was at JP Morgan.

Barclay’s revealed he would be fined but said regulators did not accuse him of acting with a lack of integrity although the case has caused concerns that other prospective whistleblowers would be deterred because he is still at the bank’s helm.

In a statement issued jointly, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) said: “We have issued draft warning notices in respect to the CEO and will announce the outcome once this issue has reached a conclusion.”

Shareholders showed they didn’t care when they gave him 99.45 percent support for his reappointment, including backing from influential advisory group Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) which said, however, his reappointment was “not without concern” because his zeal to find the whistleblower prompted an investigation.

The regulators, disputing what the bank claimed, said Staley’s actions violated rules that require an individual “to act with due skill, care and diligence.”

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