Watchdog’s ban on ex-Barclays executive holding senior positions overturned
A ruling by the financial watchdog banning former Barclays executive Andrew Tinney from holding senior positions at financial institutions has been overturned.
Tinney, former chief operating officer of Barclays Wealth, was also cleared of misleading the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the US Federal Reserve Bank of New York, but a finding he “acted without integrity” was upheld.
Tinney was previously found guilty of suppressing an independent report into Barclays Wealth’s US branch that criticsed management. The FCA ruled in 2016 that he should be publicly censured and banned from holding senior management positions at financial firms.
Tinney challenged the decision, with his lawyer arguing the FCA had used “irrelevant” evidence from a former Barclays chief executive in an attempt to “prejudice” the case.
An upper tribunal heard the case last year, and in findings published today upheld the public censure on the grounds that Tinney had “acted without integrity” when he gave the impression that the report did not exist. But it overturned a ban on him holding senior positions and cleared him of misleading the FCA and New York Fed during the case.
A statement released through Tinney’s legal team said: “The FCA went after the wrong person.” It also accused senior management in Barclays of having “scapegoated” Tinney.
Harvey Knight, a partner at Withers LLP, which represented Mr Tinney, said the upper tribunal’s judgement was “unprecedented” and said that the FCA “has serious questions to answer about why it decided to pursue this case”.
Responding to the tribunal’s findings, FCA executive enforcement director Mark Steward said: “Senior management must be held to high standards of integrity which is the fundamental cornerstone of good conduct in trusted markets. Mr Tinney failed to act with integrity in one telling instance which is enough to justify this censure.”
Barclays declined to comment on the case.