An ex-Barclays exec faces a lifetime finance ban for hiding a critical report

The former chief operating officer of Barclays' wealth management arm is fighting a lifetime ban from financial services, after the City watchdog accused him of hiding a critical review of the culture at his department.

The Financial Conduct Authority said on Wednesday that Andrew Tinney should be banned for failing to act with integrity.

Tinney, who left the bank in 2013, is challenging the decision at a tribunal.

The report, entitled "Barclays Wealth America - Cultural
Assessment," was put together by a consultancy in 2012 and examined how the "tone at the top flowed through" the bank's US wealth unit.

Tinney received a hard copy of the 29-page document in March 2012 and proceeded to hide it from regulators and colleagues at the bank.

The consultants found that Barclays Wealth America "pursued a course of revenue at all costs and had a culture that was high risk and actively hostile to compliance," the FCA said. "Its main recommendation is that the Firm should replace or consider replacing some members of BWA's senior management."

Tinney made sure the critical review "would not be seen by or available to others by not sharing it with anyone, not entering it into the Firm's records or IT systems, and instructing the Consultancy that they did not need to circulate a copy," the FCA said.

The watchdog said his conduct was particularly bad because it occurred during a review, known as the "Salz Review," of Barclays' processes in the wake of the bank's fines for manipulating the London interbank overnight rate - an interest rate benchmark.

An anonymous whistleblower sent an email to the Barclays chairman at the time, Sir David Walker, saying that the report had been suppressed. In a draft response to the accusation, Tinney implied the consultancy had not produced a written document.

The bank also received a request from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to view the document.

"In emails to colleagues regarding this request, Mr Tinney initially did not mention the Report and then made statements which suggested the Report did not exist," the FCA said.

Eventually, at the end of 2012, the bank's management received a copy of the report and suspended Tinney, who resigned shortly afterwards.