Can Jes Staley Keep Barclays Together?

He’s betting on an investment banking arm that some say isn’t worth the trouble

- Stephen Morris

James “Jes” Staley’s hiring as chief executive officer of Barclays Plc in 2015 came with a sense of déjà vu. Three years earlier, the U.K. establishment drummed Bob Diamond, the American architect of Barclays’s investment bank, out of the job. Staley was another New Englander steeped in Wall Street risk-taking. He brought to London a similar playbook focused on expanding the bank’s securities unit.

Now, Staley is racing to avoid the same fate as Diamond. The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority is considering whether he can keep his job after he tried to find out the identity of a whistle blower who raised concerns about one of his hires. Should he survive that threat, he has to convince skeptics that his bet on building a trans-Atlantic investment banking powerhouse will succeed, according to executives, board members, and shareholders.

Staley has faced down calls to spin off or radically shrink the investment bank, arguing that it’s a counterweight to the consumer and credit card businesses that may be vulnerable to any slowdown in the U.K. economy after Brexit. Barclays â€‹is the country’s second-biggest bank by assets, and investment banking made up about half its revenue in 2017.