Anthony Salz to lead Barclays’ culture inquiry
LEADING solicitor and Rothschild vice-chairman Anthony Salz will today be appointed to investigate staff ethics at Barclays and create a new code of conduct.
Meanwhile it emerged that leadership favourites Rich Ricci and Sir Michael Rake have ruled themselves out of the running in the race to become chief executive and chairman of the bank respectively.
Rake also came under fire from easyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou who is calling on shareholders to sack Rake as chairman of the airline, arguing that he is overstretched by holding four directorships at listed firms; and that he failed to spot Libor manipulation when on Barclays’ audit, risk management and corporate governance committees.
Outgoing chairman Marcus Agius announced the inquiry into Barclays’ culture at the start of the month, declaring the “audit of our business practices” crucial to cleaning up the bank’s image.
Respected lawyer Salz is a former senior partner at Freshfields and former vice chairman of the BBC.
“This exercise will be part of a broader programme of activity intended to restore Barclays’ reputation and we will establish a zero tolerance policy for any actions that harm the reputation of the bank,” said Agius earlier this month.