Jes Staley has quit as chief executive of Barclays as the Financial Conduct Authority prepares to publish its long-awaited report into whether he misled the bank’s board in his representation of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the late disgraced financier convicted of child prostitution.
In a stock exchange statement Barclays said it had been made aware of the preliminary conclusions from the FCA and the Prudential Regulation Authority on Friday night. The report is expected to be published in the coming weeks.
“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,” Barclays stated.
The statement added: “The board is disappointed at this outcome. Mr Staley has run the Barclays Group successfully since December 2015 with real commitment and skill. Mr Staley clarified the group’s strategy, transformed its operations and materially improved its results.”
Epstein was a long-standing client of Staley when he ran the private wealth division of the US investment bank JP Morgan. Contact between the men continued after the financier was convicted of trafficking in 2008.
Advertisement
Barclays said that Staley would continue to receive his current fixed pay — £2.4 million — as well as a £120,000 pension allowance and other benefits until October 2022. Staley will also be eligible to receive repatriation costs to the US.
Venkat Venkatakrishnan, head of global markets and co-president of Barclays Bank, has been appointed chief executive. “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,” the bank said.
Europe’s largest airline Ryanair has announced a review of its listing on the London Stock Exchange as it posts half-year results.
“Trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) as a percentage of overall trading volume in Ryanair’s ordinary shares has reduced materially during 2021. The migration away from the LSE is consistent with a general trend for trading in shares of EU corporates post Brexit. The board of Ryanair is now considering the merits of retaining the standard listing on the LSE,” the airline said.
The delisting would be a blow to the LSE and its embattled chief executive David Schwimmer. Shares in LSE have fallen 21 per cent this year following its ill-fated $27 billion takeover of Refinitiv, the financial information giant.
Advertisement
The interim results revealed that Ryanir lost €48 million in the six months to the end of September, a smaller loss than the €411 million reported over the same period last year when the majority of its planes were grounded by the pandemic. The number of passengers over the period rose 128 per cent to 39.1 million.
Ryanair said it expected to post an annual loss of between €100 million and €200 million as it would be forced to discount tickets to fill its planes over the winter.
Elsewhere this morning:
• FTSE 100 property company Land Securities has made a £190 million recommended cash offer for U&I Group, a mixed use property developer in London and Manchester. The 149p-a-share offer is a 71 per cent premium to U&I’s share price on Friday.
• Howden Joinery Group, the kitchen supplier, said trading in the second half continues to be strong and it expects full-year pre-tax profit to be around the top end of analysts’ expectations of £298 million to £360 million.
Advertisement
On the economics front we get the manufacturing PMI data for the UK at 9.30am. Economists expect a final reading of 57.7, in line with last month’s flash reading.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak appears in front of MPs on the Treasury select committee at 3.15pm following last week’s budget. Ahead of that (11.05am) the MPs will quiz Richard Hughes, chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility, and colleagues.
Finally, Dominic O’Connell makes his debut as Times Radio’s business presenter this morning. You can catch him every morning at 6.40am and 7.50am (and throughout the show). Dominic joins from BBC Radio 4’s Today programme (although many of you, I’m sure, will remember him as the former business editor of The Sunday Times). Listen online, on DAB radio, your smart speaker or via the Times Radio app.
Please do keep sending your thoughts, observations (and corrections) to me at richard.fletcher@thetimes.co.uk and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @fletcherr.
Richard