Hard questions for Barclays over Jeffrey Epstein investigation

The bank’s board decided to back CEO Jes Staley – which means their decisions are also under scrutiny, writes James Moore

Financial regulators are attempting to investigate the relationship between the two financiers (Invision/AP)

Once again, Barclays CEO Jes Staley is in the crosshairs of Britain’s financial regulators, under investigation and under a dark cloud as a result of his past relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, financier, friend of Prince Andrew and Donald Trump, convicted sex offender.

News of the probe emerged alongside the bank’s generally solid set of financial results, thus ensuring no one outside of the City of London was at all interested in the numbers. It promises to stay that way potentially for months to come.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that a former Wall Street heavy hitter like Staley knew, and had a relationship with Epstein, who had a powerful network which included some very big names. Staley used to run JP Morgan’s wealth division, handling the finances of wealthy Americans of which Epstein knew a lot of. He ended up sending dozens of high net worth clients Staley’s way. But Eptstein, as we now know, was a highly unsavoury character.