Barclays fined $15m over whistleblower scandal
New York regulators have fined Barclays $15m over the efforts made by the bank’s chief executive to reveal the identity of a whistleblower.
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The bank confirmed the fine in a statement: “Barclays has further agreed to undertake additional reporting and remediation undertakings in respect of its whistleblowing programme.”
CEO Jes Staley tried to track down the author of some critical letters using the bank’s internal security unit. The letters had criticised a new appointment.
Staley was advised several times not to try to identify the author but attempted to do so anyway.
The New York Department of Financial Services argued Barclays failed to follow whistleblowing policies back in 2016 and said its investigation found “shortcomings in governance, controls and corporate culture” as the CEO tried to protect the senior executive and friend from “unwanted and unfair publicity”.
These actions “exposed the bank to risk and created an atmosphere in which employees might doubt that it was safe to escalate issues of concern to the bank”, according to a statement on Tuesday.
“Whistleblowers are vital to uncovering and addressing intentional wrongdoing,” said Maria Vullo, New York department of financial services superintendent. “DFS’s thorough investigation uncovered actions at the top that exposed the bank to risk and created an atmosphere in which employees might doubt that it was safe to escalate issues of concern to the bank.”
Staley acknowledged his personal involvement and apologised.