Shares might have bounced again, however Barclays can’t escape the Epstein scandal, says RUTH SUNDERLAND

Barclays boss CS Venkatakrishnan – Venkat for short – is putting up a good show of dealing with the taint of the Epstein scandal, but investors and customers deserve much more.

The shares, which have until recently been a long-running disappointment are up around 60 per cent this year.

The bank is returning £15billion to shareholders in the next two years through share buybacks and by lifting its dividend. 

Profits are up by more than anticipated and Venkat featured heavily on the business pages at the weekend, talking about his cancer diagnosis in 2022, in the context of helping staff who are going through a similar ordeal.

He said all the right things about the ‘moral depravity’ and ‘corruption’ laid bare in the Epstein email trove. 

None of this is sufficient to shift the focus from former chief executive Jes Staley and his dealings with Epstein, nor should it be.

Turnaround: Barclays, led by boss CS Venkatakrishnan (pictured), is returning £15bn to shareholders in the next two years through share buybacks and by lifting its dividend

Pertinent questions remain about the erstwhile boss of one of our biggest banks, the full extent of his embroilment with the loathsome Epstein and why on earth the board appeared to ignore loud warning signs. 

In particular, there should be a full investigation of Staley’s recruitment and whether sufficient due diligence was performed before he was hired.

Once he was in post, the bank and its top brass appeared to be at pains to defend Staley without proper checks.

Soon after his appointment, he was caught up in a scandal over a whistleblower who wrote to the board raising concerns about a senior appointment. 

Staley was fined by City regulators for attempting to unmask the whistleblower but, unusually, allowed to stay in his job.

In the autumn of 2019, Barclays wrote to the City watchdogs playing down Staley’s involvement with Epstein. The missive, approved by Staley, was deemed inaccurate and misleading by the regulator.

Former chairmen John ‘Mac the Knife’ McFarlane, who hired Staley, and Sir Nigel Higgins, who took the role in 2019, need to account for their handling of the former chief executive.

Barclays has a long and shameful history of scandals: Libor interest-rate rigging and the deal with Middle Eastern investors in the financial crisis to name but two.

Venkat’s warm words fall short of the reassurance needed that the bank is fully facing up to the Epstein affair.

Apprentice drive

Halfords, a great British name synonymous with motoring and cycling, is concerned about a shortfall of young apprentices entering the trade, with numbers down by 14 per cent over three years.

To those of my generation, this is sad news. When I was a teen, boys – few girls, back then – aspired to work with cars.

Halfords plans to hire up to 250 apprentices, but there needs to be a much bigger push to revive the noble institution of the apprenticeship, undermined by academic snobbery.

The UK is in the grip of a youth employment crisis. Nearly a million of those aged 16 to 24 are NEET – not in education, employment or training.

Hikes in National Insurance and the minimum wage have made it much more expensive to hire young people. 

A Skills Tax Incentive for apprentices would help. A tax rebate equivalent to two days a week of apprentice pay has been proposed by the Jobs Foundation, the Christopher Nieper Foundation (where I am director), and 125 leading employers.

The outlay would rapidly be recouped and turn positive for the Exchequer. If the Government wants to do something positive in the sea of troubles engulfing Keir Starmer, it need look no further.

High hopes

Donald Trump thinks that if Kevin Warsh, the new supremo at US central bank the Federal Reserve, ‘does the job that he’s capable’ of, then ‘we [the US] can grow at 15pc, I think more than that’.

It’s not clear from the President’s remarks what time period he has in mind and they do raise questions over his understanding of the Fed chairman’s job.

This is not to stoke runaway expansion – and at 15 per cent, inflation would almost certainly run rampant – but to provide the conditions for sustainable growth.

Whatever the thoughts behind the remarks, it is an eye-catching number given the US economy has grown on average by less than 3 per cent over the past 50 years.

No pressure, then, Kevin.