Barclays faces an investor backlash over the £2.5million pay still being handed to Jes Staley following his shock resignation over questions about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Staley left this month after the bank was shown the result early of an investigation by the City watchdog into his correspondence with the billionaire sex offender.
But his contract entitles him to receive his current fixed annual pay of £2.4million in cash and a pension allowance of £120,000 until October 31 next year. He will also get a relocation package so he can return to the US.
Paid up: Jes Staley (pictured with wife Debora) left Barclays after the bank was shown the result of a probe by the watchdog into his links with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
The deal has caused fury among investors, who have raised concerns over Staley’s exit and are demanding answers from the bank.
A meeting is scheduled between Barclays and its top investors for next week.
The Investor Forum, which lobbies on behalf of big investment managers including Blackrock, Aviva Investors, Fidelity, Schroders and JO Hambro, said it has received complaints, centred on his pay, pension and repatriation costs.
Andrew Speke, spokesman at the High Pay Centre said: ‘To pay such a huge sum to someone resigning on the basis of such serious allegations seems completely inappropriate. Such behaviour shows the public that it’s one rule for the rich and another for everybody else.
‘It will only create further mistrust from the public in the big banks and shows the need for a real change of culture in the way major companies are run.’
Staley intends to contest the preliminary conclusions of the UK regulatory investigation. And Barclays said the probe makes no findings that Staley saw, or was aware of, Epstein’s alleged crimes.
But it is not the first time that Staley has found himself in hot water. In 2018, he was ordered to hand over £1.1million for attempting to unmask a whistleblower.
Last week it emerged that Staley had exchanged 1,200 emails with Epstein over four years. He had told Barclays his relationship was purely professional having been Epstein’s private banker at JP Morgan.
Many emails, dating from 2008 to 2012, were general in nature. But the chummy tone will raise eyebrows, as may the unexplained reference to ‘snow white’.
No conclusions have yet been drawn over the phrase by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority and the full report has not yet been published.
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