Ex-chief executive of Barclays Wealth Thomas Kalaris has lost an appeal to perform senior manager duties at firm Saranac Partners, which he founded in 2015.
The FCA denied Saranac’s application for Kalaris to perform chief executive and executive director functions in 2022, stating Kalaris was not “a fit and proper person to perform those functions”. The Upper Tribunal agreed with the FCA’s earlier findings that Kalaris “had not been candid” in three of his answers to FCA interviews in 2013 and 2014, and was dishonest in one answer.
The interviews related to capital raising which took place at Barclays in 2008 following the financial crash with the Qatar Investment Authority. Kalaris was acquitted from fraud charges in 2020.
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Laura Dawes, director of authorisations at the FCA, said: “We welcome the Tribunal’s ruling. It unanimously found that Mr Kalaris was dishonest in two enforcement interviews the FCA conducted into events that occurred during his time at Barclays. He is therefore not fit to be a senior manager in a business regulated by us. It is vital financial firms are led by those who are honest, transparent and who act with integrity.”
A spokesperson for Saranac said: “We are disappointed by the findings of the Upper Tribunal but accept its decision. The matters at issue pre-date the establishment of Saranac Partners and are completely unrelated to the firm and its work. The Tribunal made no criticism of Saranac Partners nor its activities.”
