The Financial Conduct Authority has fined former CEO of Barclays, James Staley, £1.8m and banned him from holding a senior management or significant influence function in the UK financial services industry.

The watchdog found that Staley recklessly approved a letter sent by Barclays containing misleading statements about the nature of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and their last point of contact.

In August 2019, the FCA asked Barclays to explain what it had done to satisfy itself that there was no impropriety in the relationship between Staley and Epstein. Mr Staley confirmed the letter, which formed the basis of Barclays’ response, was fair and accurate.

The letter claimed that Staley did not have a close relationship with Epstein, whereas emails between the two shows that Staley described Epstein as one of his “deepest” and “most cherished” friends.

The letter from Barclays to the FCA also claimed Staley ceased contact with Epstein well before he joined the bank, but it was found that Staley was in fact in contact with Epstein in the days leading up to his appointment as CEO being announced in October 2015. Staley joined Barclays in December 2015.

The FCA said that, while Staley did not draft the letter, there was no excuse for his failure to correct the misleading statements when he was the only individual at Barclays who knew the full extent of his personal relationship with Epstein, and the specific timings of his contact with him. The watchdog found that Staley was aware of the risk that his association with Epstein posed to his career.

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.”

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