The Financial Conduct Authority has censured the former chief operating officer of Barclays Wealth and Investment Management and banned him from significant influence positions.
But Andrew Tinney has disputed the decision and is attempting to have the decision overturned through the courts.
The FCA has sought to ban Mr Tinney over his attempts to surpress an audit into the culture of Barclays Wealth’s American branch to address a number of concerns held by the US Securities & Exchange Commission.
A third party consultancy firm carried out the audit in early 2012 and was highly critical of some members of Barclays Wealth Americas’ (BWA) senior management. It said BWA had pursued a course of revenue at all costs and had a culture that was high risk and actively hostile to compliance.
Its main recommendation is that Barclays should replace or consider replacing some members of BWA’s senior management.
In December 2012 Barclays received a copy of the report from the consultancy and, shortly afterwards, suspended Mr Tinney, who then resigned.
But prior to that Mr Tinney, the FCA said, was the only individual who saw the report and took steps to ensure it would not be seen by or available to anyone else at Barclays.
While he put in place a plan to address the report’s criticisms, he intrusted the consultancy not to circulate it and did not enter it into the company’s records.
The FCA said he also made “recklessly misleading statements and omissions” which would make it less likely that he or the consultancy would be asked for a copy of it.
In its decision notice the FCA said: “Mr Tinney’s misconduct as described in this notice is serious, particularly in the light of his seniority at the firm, his substantial industry experience and the obvious significance of the concerns giving rise to, and set out in, the report.
“His actions may have hindered attempts by the firm’s board to understand the reasons for BWA’s regulatory deficiencies.
“He also exposed the firm to the risk that its efforts to address failings in its compliance with its legal and regulatory obligations could be delayed or frustrated.”
The FCA said Mr Tinney’s misconduct was aggravated by the subsequent account of certain events which he gave to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and in compelled interviews with the regulator which, in the FCA’s view, was misleading.
Barclays sold its BWA division, which at the time had assets of $56bn (£42bn) to Stifel in June 2015.
In a statement Mr Tinney said: “I do not accept that any of my actions can be construed as misconduct and I have referred that finding of the regulator to the Upper Tribunal.
“I look forward to finishing the job of clearing my good name in the Upper Tribunal.”
A spokesman for Barclays said it cooperated fully with the FCA during its investigation.
