With its succession of scandals, one more popping up each time the bank seeks to move on from the last one, Barclays is in the unfortunate position of resembling the blighted Wells Fargo. Fined billions of pounds for foreign exchange rigging and LIBOR interest rate manipulation, the bank is now being investigated by the US Department of Justice over misselling subprime mortgage securities, and by British authorities for alleged criminal activity over the terms of a fundraising in Qatar. Both British and U.S. regulators are investigating the bank’s CEO, Jes Staley, because of his attempt to find out the identity of a whistleblower in 2016. And, of course, it was involved in the insurance misselling scandal along with every other bank in the U.K.
And in an even closer parallel to Wells Fargo, there appear to be further scandals associated with the bank’s wealth management unit. One of its executives, Andrew Tinney, was publicly censured and banned from holding any senior position by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) back in 2016 over allegedly destroying a controversial report. He is now challenging this decision, claiming it was based on hearsay. The critical report into the wealth unit’s American team was written by Genesis Ventures, and said, according to the Financial Times that the unit “pursued a culture of revenue at all costs” and was “hostile to compliance.” Indeed, there are so many investigations going on at the bank that both the FCA and the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA), the unit of the Bank of England tasked with overseeing banks and financial organisations, declined to comment for this article.
