Ex-Barclays banker ousted from senior City role: Thomas Kalaris branded ‘dishonest’ after losing appeal

The City watchdog has banned a former Barclays banker who was charged with fraud during the financial crisis from becoming a chief executive.

Thomas Kalaris has lost an appeal against the financial regulator that allowed him to take the top job at Saranac Partners, the investment company he founded.

Kalaris, 68, founded Saranac in 2017 and is listed as a founder on the company’s website.

In 2020, Saranac had wanted to make him chief executive, but in 2022 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the City veteran was not a “suitable person” to hold a senior role.

Saranac appealed and a hearing was held in July, and yesterday the High Court in London upheld the regulator’s decision to ban Kalaris.

FCA licensing director Laura Dawes said: “We welcome the court’s ruling.”

‘Mr Kalaris was unanimously found to have been dishonest in two FCA compliance interviews conducted regarding events that occurred during his time at Barclays.

“He is therefore not suitable to hold a management position in a company regulated by us. It is essential that financial companies are run by people who are honest, transparent and act with integrity.”

A spokesman for Saranac Partners responded: ‘We are disappointed by the High Court’s findings but accept its decision.

‘The matters in question predate the creation of Saranac Partners and have no relation to the company or its business.’

Kalaris and three others, including former Barclays chief executive John Varley, became the first British bankers to face criminal charges for conduct during the financial crisis era when they were taken to court in 2019.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) case related to the bank’s struggle to find alternatives to a government bailout during the 2008 banking crisis.

The group was accused of hiding £332m in commissions paid to the Qatari government to sweeten a multi-billion pound investment deal with shareholders and other investors.

Kalaris, who was chief executive of Barclays’ wealth and investment management division from 2006 to 2013, was cleared of all charges in 2020.

Defendants Roger Jenkins, who ran Barclays’ Middle East investment bank, and Richard Boath, a former financial institutions director, were also acquitted by the jury.

It was a blow to the SFO and came at the end of a six-month trial at Southwark Crown Court in London.

Charges against Varley were dropped a year earlier after a judge dismissed the case saying there was insufficient evidence against him.

Despite the verdict, the FCA banned Kalaris based on two interviews it held with the former banker in 2013 and 2014 about his work at Barclays during the 2008 financial crisis.

The regulator alleged that he had been dishonest in interviews, making him unsuitable for a management position.

“We found that Mr Kalaris had not been truthful in his answers to three of the questions put to him by the authority during his 2013 interview and that one of his answers was dishonest,” the court’s verdict read.

‘Our conclusion was therefore the same as that of the authority.’

CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang acted as legal counsel to Kalaris.

Separately, the FCA said in 2022 it would fine Barclays £50m over its fundraising in Qatar, a decision the bank plans to challenge in the High Court in November.