Headquartered in London, Barclays is an investment and financial services bank with operations throughout the world. In December 2015, Barclays hired Jes Staley as CEO. Previously, Staley had been a 30-year veteran with JP Morgan in its investment banking division. In June 2016, Staley hired Tim Main, a friend and former colleague at JP Morgan, as head of Barclays’ financial group in New York. An anonymous person sent two letters to Barclays’ board of directors questioning the recruitment of Main. The whistleblower raised concerns of “a personal nature about the senior employee, Mr. Staley’s knowledge of and role in dealing with those issues at a previous employer, and the appropriateness of the recruitment process followed on this occasion by Barclays.

Questions

1. Do you think that future whistle blowers will be less likely to report corporate wrongdoing at Barclays?

2. Do you think that Jes Staley’s penalty is appropriate or inappropriate? Why?

3. How do you think Jes Staley should have behaved?