Activist investor Edward Bramson has seen his bid for a seat on the board of Barclays rejected with 87% of votes against him, including institutional investors from Aviva and Jupiter.
In March, the Financial Stability Board launched an investigation into some areas of this market, while a co-managing partner at buyout group Bain Capital told the FT last month private equity firms are taking on too much debt in order to win deals.
Business from large private equity firms has indeed been a cornerstone of Barclays' success, with Staley admitting in a recent interview with the FT that they were a "very important source of client base" for his bank, as well as rivals such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, which do not have the same strength in corporate banking as JP Morgan, Citigroup and HSBC.
While Barclays ranks sixth or seventh in such areas of investment banking as securities trading and M&A advice, it was the fourth largest originator of leveraged finance in the US last year, according to Dealogic, and has jumped from eighth to second position in Europe over the past two years.
However, the CEO has denied that the bank is exposing itself to excessive risks, saying it holds on to "very little of the residual risk" and has not increased its risk limits last set in 2014.
Bramson has previously seen opposition to his board seat bid from a number of shareholders including Merian Global Investors' CEO Richard Buxton and Aviva Investors CIO David Cumming.
