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By Kirstin Ridley
LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) - A senior British bank lobbyist
has resigned over comments he made in 2008 about businesswoman
Amanda Staveley, who arranged billions of pounds of rescue
financing for Barclays at the height of the credit
crisis when Jones was at the bank.
Stephen Jones, expected to give evidence in a $2 billion
London court battle between Staveley and Barclays next month,
offered his resignation as chief executive of UK Finance and the
board accepted, according to a statement on Tuesday.
"Stephen has rightly acknowledged that the comments he made
in 2008 were inappropriate and do not meet the standards
expected of leaders in our industry," said UK Finance's
chairman, Bob Wigley.
Jones, who was Barclays' head of investor relations in 2008,
told UK Finance staff last week that he could not defend his
remarks, which have been mentioned in a civil lawsuit against
Barclays by Staveley's PCP Capital private equity group.
"The comments I made ... are wholly inappropriate and do not
meet the standards of language and behaviour we rightly expect,"
he told staff in a memo seen by Reuters.
He has separately apologised to Staveley, who was not
immediately available for comment on Tuesday.
PCP's written opening statement to the court mentions
"thoroughly unpleasant comments" by Jones to a colleague about
Staveley in 2008 and refers to other personal comments by senior
Barclays staff of the time, criticising her professional skill
and competence.
Transcripts of internal calls between Barclays executives
could be read aloud in the case, which hinges on the terms
Barclays offered Qatar and PCP Capital's syndicate -- which
included Abu Dhabi investors -- for taking part in a 7.3 billion
pound ($9.2 billion) cash call in October 2008.
PCP Capital is claiming up to 1.5 billion pounds ($1.9
billion) in damages for deceit, alleging that Barclays reneged
on representations that PCP's consortium would get the same
terms as Qatar.
Barclays has dismissed the case as misconceived and without
merit.
($1 = 0.7949 pounds)
(Reporting by Kirstin Ridley; editing by Simon Jessop and Kevin
Liffey)
