Former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley is accused of witnessing Epstein's sexual abuse of young women. Photo: TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images
Barclays should be challenged for its former chief executive, Jes Staley, maintaining his relationship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, a powerful shareholder group has said.
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which offers advice to hundreds of high-profile investors such as pension funds, said there are «questions to ask now» following lawsuits accusing Mr. Staley of personally watching the sexual assault. over young women by Epstein.
ISS' This unusual intervention will return attention to the FTSE 100 lender, which has largely avoided criticism over the scandal despite a flurry of lawsuits against Mr. Staley, JP Morgan.
He threatens to dominate discussions at Barclays' annual general meeting on May 3, when the bank will meet shareholders for the first time after new allegations surfaced regarding Mr. Staley's ties to Epstein.
The ISS investor note states: «The decision to support Staley in the inter-death Epstein and Staley's resignation will attract attention.
“While it is generally accepted that the board could only act on the basis of information available to it at the time, there are questions about the decision made during this period, given the particularly troubling nature of the allegations against Epstein and their potential reputational damage.” . companies.
“These are questions that can be asked right now. While there may not be definitive answers to questions of judgment, it is likely that investors will be in a better position to come to a more informed position as new news emerges from the investigations.”
Epstein was a key client of Mr. -on Staley when the banker worked at JP Morgan before he joined Barclays in 2015.
Epstein was arrested and committed suicide in 2019. A year later, Barclays said he had «total confidence». in Mr. Staley, despite an FCA investigation into his ties to Epstein.
Mr. Staley resigned only after the preliminary results of the investigation were handed over to Barclays. He disputes the FCA's findings, which have not been made public.
Mr Staley has repeatedly denied knowledge of Epstein's sexual abuse, with attorneys calling the claims «baseless».
A lawsuit filed this year by Epstein's victims against JP Morgan, where Mr. Staley worked before joining Barclays in 2015, alleged that Mr. Staley «personally observed» Epstein's abuse.
Another , filed by the US Virgin Islands, alleges he drank white wine in Mr. Epstein's hot tub in 2009 while Epstein was under house arrest for child sex crimes.
JP Morgan filed a separate lawsuit against Staley demanding that he pay back the $80m (£65m) he earned while working at a Wall Street bank.
Nigel Higgins, chairman of Barclays, said that the allegations are “serious and new” and that his initial review of the matter in 2020 “was based on the information he had at the time and statements made by Mr. Staley.”
He suspended payments to Mr. -well Staley millions of pounds awaiting the final outcome of the FCA investigation.
ISS said the fact that Barclays supported Mr. Staley after he was fined in 2018 for trying to expose a whistleblower is «potentially irrelevant.»
It said: «The question could be asked, «Was the board right to support [Mr] Staley (ie not fire him) a second time?»
Barclays did not comment on the ISS note. The group has recommended that shareholders support the bank in a vote of all shareholders at next month's annual meeting.
In addition, HSBC's largest shareholder has reportedly demanded that it regularly review its structure amid calls to break up the banking giant.
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Ping An, which owns an 8% stake in HSBC and is campaigning for a split between Western and Asian banking, plans to support a shareholder proposal requiring quarterly reports on attempts to spin off its Asian business, according to the Financial Times.
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He is also pushing for the bank to increase its dividend to levels last seen before the pandemic. HSBC has rejected calls for a bank split.
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