Barclays Executive In Charge Of You Know What Has Responsibilities Slightly Curtailed
Until recently, like, say, this morning, Bill White headed the group that made headlines this week for fraud (allegedly lying to clients about high frequency trading, this and that). And, technically, he's still got his job, though for the time being it will involve answering questions posed by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, and not coming within 200 feet of clients. Obviously, CEO Antony Jenkins would prefer to fire White or at the very least spend an hour or so pelting him crumpets, since he really kind of put his boss in an awkward spot in light of the whole promise Jenkins made re: Barclays not being the kind of bank that does this kind of stuff anymore. But time and place, etc.
Barclays PLC has removed a senior member of its equities-trading team from his day-to-day responsibilities in the wake of allegations that his group lied to clients about the operations of its dark pools, according to people familiar with the matter. Bill White, head of the firm's equities electronic-trading operation, is focusing solely on answering questions related to the lawsuit, according to people familiar with Barclays' decision. Mr. White's group ran the so-called dark pool, known as Barclays LX. He is being treated as "innocent until proven guilty," but he won't be involved in electronic trading until the investigation is complete, the people said. Mr. White wasn't named directly in the lawsuit filed by the New York Attorney General's office against Barclays, but he is referred to several times in the complaint by title. The lawsuit claims the electronic-trading operation favored high-frequency traders and misled clients about this advantage.