A senior banking lobbyist has quit over personal attacks on a prominent businesswoman suing Barclays, his former employer, for up to £1.6 billion (Dh7.4bn) over “secret” payments to Qatari investors.
Stephen Jones made “wholly inappropriate” comments about Amanda Staveley and her company, PCP Capital Partners, and accused the business of illegal activities in a recorded telephone call to a colleague, according to court documents.
The full extent of his personal attack is not yet clear but he accused PCP of being a “bunch of scum bags” among other stronger language. He also accused the company of front-running - an illegal and unethical form of insider trading.
The comments were made immediately after a meeting in 2008 with Ms Staveley as they discussed a multi-billion-pound investment while Mr Jones was still at the bank, according to court documents.The capital-raising was announced just days later, which kept the bank out of government ownership at the height of the financial crisis.
Lawyers for Ms Staveley have previously said that conversations between senior officials at the bank involved “the pre-global financial crisis arrogance, ethical carelessness, focus on bonuses, on money, on jobs and unfortunately also sexism and misogyny”.
Mr Jones on Tuesday quit as chief executive of a prominent banking trade group, UK Finance, before giving evidence next month at the civil trial brought by Ms Staveley against Barclays, which she accuses of striking secret commission deals with Qatari investors.
“I have apologised to Ms Staveley and to my colleagues for the comments made in 2008 and feel at this time it is right I step down from my role at UK Finance,” Mr Jones said in a statement.
He told staff last week that his comments were “wholly inappropriate and do not meet the standards of language and behaviour we rightly expect. I regret making these comments and I cannot defend them and will not seek to do so”.
He added: “My remarks in 2008 were wrong at the time and are wrong now.”
Mr Jones was a senior executive at Barclays and was involved in talks that secured more than £11bn for the bank in 2008. He met former Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jaber Al Thani, the head of the Qatari investors, in Doha in 2008, London’s High Court heard.
Mr Jones left the bank in 2011 and for the past three years has been chief executive of UK Finance, which represents 250 companies across the British banking and finance industry.
Last year, he told an annual UK Finance event that the industry had come a long way since Barclays appointed the first female branch manager in 1958.
“But it is not enough progress. It is clear from this room that some barriers still exist,” he said. “As an industry we have a crucial role to play in ensuring we recruit, build and nurture a diverse and inclusive workforce.”
Bob Wigley, chairman of UK Finance, said: “Stephen has rightly acknowledged that the comments he made in 2008 were inappropriate and do not meet the standards expected of leaders in our industry.”
