Barclays CEO Jess Staley Steps Down After Jeffrey Epstein Investigation

Barclays Chief Executive Jess Staley is quitting his role following an investigation into his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

C.S. Venkatakrishnan, also known as Venkat, is currently head of global markets at Barclays, and will be taking over as chief executive with immediate effect.

The bank said the investigation had not found that Staley “saw, or was aware of, any of Mr Epstein’s alleged crimes which was the central question underpinning Barclays’ support for Mr Staley following the arrest of Mr Epstein in the summer of 2019.”

Barclays said that the company and Staley “were made aware on Friday evening of the preliminary conclusions” of a probe by the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

The company also said that the investigation was into “Mr Staley’s characterisation to Barclays of his relationship with the late Mr Jeffrey Epstein and the subsequent description of that relationship in Barclays’ response to the FCA.”

“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,” the bank said.

Mr. Epstein was arrested in July of 2019 for child sex trakkicking charges and hung himself a month later.

Staley became CEO of Barclays in October 2015 and has said his relationship with Epstein, which he regrets, ended in late 2015 according to Reuters.

“Although I will not be with you for the next chapter of Barclays’ story, know that I will be cheering your success from the sidelines,” he said, according to Reuters.

Barclays said its 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, as a result of which he moved from the position of Group Chief Risk Officer to Head of Global Markets.”

Shares of Barclays were trading slightly lower on Monday.

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