The former chief executive of Barclays Wealth during the 2008 financial crisis has been banned from performing senior manager functions.

The ban was originally set by the FCA in 2022 but then referred to the regulator’s Upper Tribunal, which has now enforced it.

Thomas Llewellyn Kalaris, 68, was described by the FCA as "not fit to be a senior manager."

He was one of four former senior bankers at Barclays charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and the provision of unlawful financial assistance, for which he was later found not guilty.

He joined Barclays in 1996 and was a member of the bank's executive committee from November 2009. He was chief executive of Barclays’ Wealth and Investment Management division in London between 2006 and 2013 but left the bank in 2014.

In a statement today Mr Kalaris's boutique wealth management firm Saranac Partners, set up by him in 2015, accepted the Upper Tribunal ruling that the FCA was entitled to refuse Mr Kalaris’s application to assume a more senior position at Saranac but said the ruling had no impact on his current role nor his ability to work in the financial sector.

In 2015 Mr Kalaris launched a boutique wealth firm called Saranac Partners, named after a New York lake where he once lived.

In June 2017, following a five-year investigation by the Serious Fraud Office covering Barclays' activities during the financial crisis of 2007–2008, Mr Kalaris was charged along with three colleagues, including former Barclays chief executive John Varley. The fraud charges related to how the bank raised £11.8bn from Qatar in the financial crisis with the SFO alleging the bank had given Qatar secret fees that helped it to survive without a UK government bailout in 2008.

Mr Kalaris was closely involved in the negotiations, according to the FCA. When the regulator interviewed him about his involvement in 2013 and 2014 it concluded his answers were, “not open and cooperative and were untrue and misleading.”

In February 2020, after a highly-publicised trial, Mr Kalaris along with colleagues Roger Jenkins and Richard Boath were found not guilty on all charges, with Mr Varley having been acquitted at an earlier hearing.

In September 2022 the FCA fined Barclays £50m for market disclosure failings in relation to the Qatar agreements.

In November 2020 the FCA announced it had decided to refuse a September 2020 application from Saranac Partners for approval of Mr Kalaris to perform senior manager functions. The decision was referred to the Upper Tribunal which, on 27 August, ruled in the FCA’s favour.

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.”

Karanac said in its statement: "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.

"We remain focused on our business, our colleagues and our clients. We are committed to providing outstanding service and operate with high standards of care and governance."

Saranac Partners sought FCA approval for Mr Kalaris to assume a management role in 2020. The FCA rejected its application in 2022, citing answers to specific sets of questions provided by Mr Kalaris during two interviews with the regulator in 2013 and 2014. Those interviews related to matters at Barclays in 2008 and 2012 when Mr Kalaris was a senior executive at the bank, Saranac said.

Saranac Partners appealed the FCA's decision to the Upper Tribunal and a hearing was held in July 2024. Saranac Partners was launched in 2017 to serve individuals and families and their investment needs. It has 55 employees, overseeing £5bn of assets for more than 150 clients.