The Barclays (LSE: BARC) share price opened Monday down 3.5% on the news that chief executive Jes Staley is to leave. Staley has been in the post since 2015, and is widely credited with refocusing the bank’s strategy and putting in place its senior management team.
Why’s he stepping down? It’s all to do with his previous relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Bank of England has been investigating that relationship, and has made Barclays aware of its conclusions. We don’t know the details of those conclusions, but Staley intends to contest them.
Meanwhile, the bank says it’s disappointed by its chief executive’s decision. In its announcement, Barclays points out that the investigation “makes no findings that Mr Staley saw, or was aware of, any of Mr Epstein’s alleged crimes.”
Barclays has CS Venkatakrishnan (apparently known as Venkat) lined up to take over the job. The bank explained it’s been making succession plans for some time, and “identified Venkat as its preferred candidate for this role over a year ago.”
Barclays share price still looking fine
This reassurance that the replacement is not a panic reaction appears to have soothed investors after the initial shock. The Barclays share price regained some of its early loss, just 1.7% down by mid-morning.
At the time of writing, Barclays shares are still up 87% over the past 12 months. That beats Lloyds Banking Group and NatWest Group, a few percentage points behind. And it’s way ahead of the FTSE 100‘s 30% gain.