The chair of Barclays has testified in court that he did not ask Jes Staley whether he was in contact with Jeffrey Epstein before informing the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) that Staley and Epstein had no recent communications. The chair, Higgins, also stated that he did not inquire about the type of contact Staley and Epstein had or the last date of their meeting. The FCA has alleged that Staley and Epstein continued to communicate via email and phone calls in the lead-up to Staley’s appointment as Barclays chief executive in October 2015, despite their last in-person meeting being in April 2015. Staley’s lawyers are arguing that members of the bank’s board were aware of the extent of Staley’s ties with Epstein. Higgins stated that he had asked Staley about any involvement in Epstein’s criminal activities, to which Staley denied any wrongdoing. The court also heard evidence that former Bank of England governor Mark Carney raised concerns about some emails in the JP Morgan cache during a meeting with Higgins and Andrew Bailey. The hearing is part of a legal battle to overturn the FCA’s decision to issue a lifetime ban on Staley for allegedly misleading the regulator about his relationship with Epstein.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/mar/10/barclays-chair-staley-epstein-fca