Advisory group tells investors to abstain from vote to re-elect Jes Staley to board after he tried to unmask whistleblower
Barclays’ chief executive is facing a shareholder revolt at next month’s annual meeting because of the ongoing regulatory investigation into his attempts to unmask a whistleblower.
Shareholders are being advised to abstain from the annual vote to re-elect the American banker Jes Staley to the board by ISS, an influential adviser to major investors, in a sign that the bank could face a significant protest vote against its chief executive at the 10 May AGM.
Barclays would not comment on the advice issued by ISS, but took steps to avoid a rebellion over the election of Sir Ian Cheshire as a non-executive director by promising investors that he would reduce the number of board roles he holds at other companies – dubbed “overboarding” by investors.
Staley will be braced for questions about his conduct when the bank reports its first-quarter results on Friday. He has issued a written apology for becoming too personally involved in the whistleblowing case, which related to the conduct of Tim Main, who worked with Staley at US bank JP Morgan and was then recruited to Barclays in a senior role last June.
Both the Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority are investigating the matter. Barclays has formally reprimanded Staley and insisted that there will be a significant reduction in his bonus, which was £1.4m last year.
Staley became chief executive in December 2015 at a time when the bank was scrambling to repair its reputation in the wake of the Libor-rigging crisis and other scandals.
Not only is it unusual for City regulators to investigate the conduct of chief executives of major financial institutions, it is also unusual for major proxy firms to issue advice to abstain against their re-election to the board.
Cheshire – who was boss of Kingfisher, owner of B&Q – is also facing a revolt. He is intended to become chairman of Barclays “ringfenced bank” – mainly the high-street operations – which must be set up by 2019 under rules intended to avoid a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis.
But he also chairs retailer Debenhams, French furniture company Maisons du Monde and investment company Menhaden Capital, and is senior independent director at Costa Coffee owner Whitbread – the role he is regarded as most likely to relinquish.
Proxy advisory group Glass Lewis is recommending voting against Cheshire’s appointment, while ISS has recommending backing him on the basis that he needs time to cut back his other roles, but will review the situation next year.
Barclays said plans were in place for Cheshire to reduce the number of his directorships. “Sir Ian was appointed to the board on 3 April 2017 and has committed to Barclays and its regulators that he will reduce his other directorships by September 2017,” the bank said.
Source: Flipboard
The post Barclays boss faces shareholder revolt over whistleblowing case appeared first on Compliancex.
April 28, 2017 at 08:33PM
from The Compliance Exchange
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