LONDON: British bank Barclays on Wednesday suspended £22 million of bonuses owed to ex-boss Jes Staley amid a probe into his links with US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Barclays has frozen its former chief executive’s unvested long-term bonus share awards — worth $30 million or 26 million euros — while he remains the subject of a regulatory investigation, the group said as it posted surging annual profits.

The bank said its nominations committee made the decision “pending further developments in respect of the regulatory and legal proceedings related to the ongoing investigation regarding Mr Staley”.

The former boss, who quit last year, was nevertheless entitled to a contractual entitlement of £2.4 million in cash and shares — equivalent of 12 months’ salary — as well as pension and other benefits.

Staley resigned in November ahead of contesting the outcome of the UK investigation into his historical relationship with Epstein, the American financier who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of trafficking underage girls for sex.