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Barclays' ( JJCTF ) Higgins did not ask when last Staley-Epstein

contact

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Revelations paint "a different picture" of ties, says

Higgins

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Staley is challenging FCA ban from working in UK finance

By Stefania Spezzati and Iain Withers

LONDON, March 10 (Reuters) - Barclays ( JJCTF ) chairman

Nigel Higgins believed the bank's former CEO Jes Staley's ties

with the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein did not

warrant a board discussion in the summer of 2019 after Britain's

financial regulator inquired over the matter, according to court

documents.

Staley is challenging the Financial Conduct Authority's

(FCA) decision to ban him from working in the British finance

industry in a London court after it decided he misled the

watchdog over his relationship with Epstein.

The case has once again shone a light on Barclays' ( JJCTF ) handling

of the departure of Staley, who left the British bank in 2021,

and the ties Epstein had with a variety of rich and influential

people around the world.

The FCA's former executive Jonathan Davidson spoke to

Higgins in mid-August 2019 and asked him whether Barclays ( JJCTF ) had

satisfied itself about the nature of the relationship between

Staley and Epstein following media articles.

"I recall informing Mr Davison that there had been no board

discussion, but that Mr Staley had come to me and told me about

the nature of the relationship" with Epstein, Higgins said in a

witness statement.

Higgins told Davidson that he "did not think it needed a

board discussion, but that we would get something to him when we

were all back from holiday."

Higgins later asked fellow Barclays ( JJCTF ) board member Crawford

Gillies to speak to Staley about the matter, who he said raised

no issue and did not propose reporting it to the board.

Later in 2019, Barclays ( JJCTF ) wrote to the FCA stating that Staley

had told the bank he did not have a close relationship with

Epstein.

Staley's ties to Epstein raised questions on whether

chairman Higgins and the bank's board properly vetted the former

CEO's relationship with Epstein. Last month, the London-based

bank said in its annual report it had extended Higgins'

chairmanship for another three years.

In his written testimony, Staley said that he "was never

asked to provide more than I did, nor did I consider that the

request for information made by the FCA to Mr Higgins on 15

August 2019 needed me to do so".

The FCA alleges Staley "recklessly" approved the letter,

which it has said contained two misleading statements about how

close he was to Epstein and that his last contact with the

financier was "well before he joined Barclays ( JJCTF ) in 2015".

The FCA's case centres on a cache of over 1,000 emails

between Staley and Epstein, including those from JPMorgan in

which Staley described their friendship as "profound".

Last week, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said that

these emails "raised awkward questions".

Higgins said that prior to sending the letter to the FCA in

2019, he had a picture of a "diminution of the relationship"

between the two men since Staley had left JPMorgan, where he was

an executive in the private bank and Epstein was a client.

He said that subsequent revelations had painted "a different

picture".

"I was told in interview with the FCA (...) that in October

2015, Mr Staley was in email and telephone contact with Mr

Epstein. I was not aware of that at the time the response to the

FCA's question was being drafted. I did not ask Mr Staley the

date of his last contact with Mr Epstein," Higgins also said in

his witness statement.

"Had my colleagues at Barclays ( JJCTF ) and I been aware of all of

the information of which I am now aware, I am sure that we would

have questioned Mr Staley about that further information in

depth."

The FCA said in 2023 that it intended to ban Staley from

senior roles. Staley resigned in 2021 over the investigation's

preliminary findings and has been battling to clear his name

since.

Epstein, who socialized with Wall Street titans, royalty and

celebrities including Britain's Prince Andrew, died in 2019

while in jail on sex trafficking charges.