Barclays chief Staley faces fine in whistleblowing inquiry

By Maiya Keidan and Lawrence White

LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays said Jes Staley will be fined by British regulators for attempting to unmask a whistleblower, but will be able to keep his job as the bank's chief executive.

Staley's attempt to find out who wrote a letter revealing "concerns of a personal nature" about an unnamed senior employee represented a breach of individual conduct, the country's banking watchdogs concluded, Barclays said on Friday.

But the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) were "not alleging that he acted with a lack of integrity or that he lacks fitness and propriety to continue to perform his role as Group Chief Executive Officer."

 

Barclays added that the FCA and PRA will not take enforcement action against the bank and a spokesman said the size of the fine had yet to be determined by the regulators.

Shares in the bank were up 0.3 percent on Friday, against a 0.7 percent rise in the FTSE 350 banks index.

The British bank, which in April last year said it had reprimanded Staley and would cut his bonus for his attempts to identify the whistleblower, will be required to report to the FCA and PRA on aspects of their whistleblowing programmes.

"Barclays management continues to have unanimous confidence in Staley and continues to recommend his re-election as a director at the Barclays annual general meeting on May 1," Barclays said a statement.

Staley received a pay package of 3.88 million pounds ($5.45 million) in 2017, 8.5 percent less than he received the previous year.

($1 = 0.7114 pounds)

(Reporting by Maiya Keidan and Lawrence White, editing by Silvia Aloisi and Alexander Smith)