The chief executive of Barclays has apologised to shareholders after he tried to identify a whistleblower at the banking giant.
Financial regulators launched an investigation into the banking boss Jes Staley last month after he tried to find out who wrote an anonymous letter which criticised a senior employee at Barclays.
Mr Staley, who has been at the helm of Barclays since 2015, had considered this an "unfair personal attack” on the senior employee and asked the information security team to identify the author.
But speaking at the bank’s annual general meeting yesterday (10 May), Jes Staley said: “I feel it is important that I acknowledge to you - our shareholders - that I made a mistake in becoming involved in an issue which I should have left to the business to deal with.
“I have apologised to the board, and I would today like to apologise to you as well, for that error.”
The board issued a formal written reprimand to Mr Staley and decided to make a significant cut to his paypacket, which will be determined once the regulators' investigations have finished.
katherine.denham@ft.com
