U.K. Regulators Examine Ties Between Barclays C.E.O. James Staley and Jeffrey Epstein

Barclays said on Thursday that British financial regulators were investigating the relationship between James E. Staley, its chief executive, and Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who committed suicide last August after facing new allegations of sex trafficking of underage girls.

In a statement filed with the London Stock Exchange, the British bank said the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority had begun an investigation into the relationship, which is ongoing.

“As has been widely reported, earlier in his career Mr. Staley developed a professional relationship with Mr. Epstein,” the statement said. Barclays added that Mr. Staley, who is known as Jes, has told the bank that he had no contact with Mr. Epstein after taking the top position at the bank in December 2015.

In its filing, Barclays said regulators were examining how Mr. Staley characterized the relationship with Mr. Epstein to the company, as well as what the company subsequently told the Financial Conduct Authority about it.

Barclays, the statement said, “believes that Mr. Staley has been sufficiently transparent with the company as regards the nature and extent of his relationship with Mr. Epstein.” It said Mr. Staley retains the full confidence of the bank’s board.

Mr. Staley had known Mr. Epstein since at least 1999, when the future Barclays chief was running the private banking business of JPMorgan, the Wall Street bank.

In August, Mr. Epstein hanged himself while in a Manhattan jail, where he was being held awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. He had been charged by Manhattan prosecutors in July with sexually exploiting dozens of women and girls in New York and Florida.

Those accusations involved actions up to 2005. A lawsuit filed last month by Denise N. George, the attorney general of the Virgin Islands, cited further evidence showing Mr. Epstein sexually abused and trafficked hundreds of young women and girls on his private Caribbean island, some as recently as 2018.