Proxy advisor ISS urges investors to back Barclays board

LONDON (Reuters) -Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has recommended Barclays (LON:) investors re-elect all board members at its annual meeting in May, a move that may muffle protests against bosses for their support of former CEO Jes Staley, as investigations into his links with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein continue.

The influential proxy advisor said in a report published on Monday that “questions may be posed” as to the board’s judgment in its decision to back Staley between 2019-2021, but it may be too soon for those questions to influence director elections.

“Although it is accepted that the Board could only have acted based on information available to it at the time … given how recently events have unfolded, it may be sensible to defer any attempt at answering such questions until further news emerges from ongoing investigations,” ISS said.

In a pre-meeting notice to investors last month, Barclays said that since Staley resigned in November 2021 it had received “no material new evidence” from authorities to challenge the findings of a regulatory investigation into how Staley characterised his relationship with Epstein.

At the time of his resignation, Barclays said the preliminary conclusions of investigations by British financial regulators into how truthful Staley was about his ties to Epstein made “no findings that Mr Staley saw, or was aware of, any of Mr. Epstein’s alleged crimes.”

Staley has acknowledged having been friendly with Epstein, but expressed regret for their relationship and has denied knowing about the financier’s criminal activities.

The notice also said Staley’s unvested long-term bonuses remained suspended pending further developments, adding that the board would “consider further action as appropriate”.

Staley, who joined Barclays in 2015 after more than 30 years at JPMorgan (NYSE:), has been named in two civil lawsuits lodged against the U.S. bank for enabling and concealing Epstein’s network. JPMorgan, in turn, has sued Staley over “outrageous” alleged conduct and breaching his duty of loyalty to the bank.

Staley’s lawyers have dismissed allegations that he hid what he knew about the late disgraced financier as “slanderous” and “false”.