Barclays chairman John McFarlane tells AGM he is staying put
The British bank has faced uncertainty over its leadership as well as shareholder wrath over disappointing profit
London — John McFarlane is not about to quit as chairman of Barclays, he said on Tuesday, adding that most shareholders backed Jes Staley to remain as the British bank’s CE following a misconduct inquiry. Barclays has faced uncertainty over its leadership, mainly due to scrutiny of Staley’s treatment of a whistle-blower and concerns among some investors about its strategy of focusing on investment banking. McFarlane told the Barclays annual general meeting that while he had asked the chairman of its nominations committee, Crawford Gillies, to prepare for his eventual departure, he had only served three years of his four-year term. McFarlane told Michael Mason-Mahon, a frequent critic of the bank, that more than 95% of shareholders had no worries over Staley’s fitness to run the bank. "You should have known better than to bring shame on our bank," Mason-Mahon said, accusing Staley of hurting the bank’s reputation. There had been speculation Staley could lose his job for trying to ide...
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