Barclays CEO Staley fined R10.7m for trying to expose whistleblower

Barclays chief executive officer Jes Staley was fined £642 430 (R10.7m) by British regulators, about 10% of his annual income, for his attempts to uncover a whistleblower.

“Mr Staley breached the standard of care required and expected of a chief executive in a way that risked undermining confidence in Barclays’ whistleblowing procedures,” Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the Financial Conduct Authority, said in an emailed statement on Friday.

• READ: Barclays CEO faces probe, bonus cut over whistleblower

“Whistleblowers play a vital role in exposing poor practice and misconduct in the financial services sector.”

The fine is the third-biggest ever imposed by the FCA on an individual, according to a spokesperson for the regulator.

Last month, the regulator indicated it was stopping short of the more serious accusation of a lack of integrity, which would have cost Staley his job.

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