Meet the Jenkins: Barclay’s Secret Glamour Couple Out to Screw Everyone…

In the great investor swindle/private bail-out of Barclay’s, a new financial evil genius is emerging.

Roger Jenkins is the Middle East Executive for Barclay’s who is reportedly one of the bank’s highest paid employees (although by not appearing on their board of directors the company isn’t forced to disclose his salary). Jenkins is the key figure behind the deal to accept a bail out from two sheiks from Qatar and Abu Dhabi, at terms more expensive than those offered by Alastair Darling (not that we all wanted to add Barclay’s to our accidental portfolios of failed British banks). The upside of accepting this money on terms not exactly beneficial to the bank’s current investors, is that Jenkins’ huge bonus payments will not be curtailed by government demands – as seems likely at RBS.

So how much exactly does Jenkins earn? The Evening Standard reported last year that it may be as high as £75 million a year, which makes the cheif executive salaries of Varley, Daniels et al look like spare change. Jenkins is from a highly competitive background – a former track runner, he competed at national level for Scotland in the 400m, and his brother David went on to win a silver medal at the 1972 Olympics in the event (before, er, being sent to prison for a half million dollar performance enhancing drugs bust in the US).

While teaching at City University Roger Jenkins snapped up a student there – young Bosniak beauty Dijana Jenkins. When she’s not partying on her 195 foot yacht with James Blunt and Harvey Weinstein, or escorting drunk rock stars to media bashes (see above with Kid Rock) Dijana seems to help hubby with business, as the Times reports:

“About two years ago [Dijana] became friends with the wife of Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani – chairman of Qatar Holding. That social relationship gradually turned to a business one after Jenkins was made chairman of Barclays Capital’s investment-banking and investment-management businesses in the Middle East.”

Apparently the two families are the best of chums now, and according to Roger spend time together being “down to earth” and eating “lamb and pasta” together. Sure sure.

It will be interesting to see if this deal goes through on November 24, when shareholders vote to approve the capital injection. Shares dropped 13% Friday: a not altogether positive share holder response to the announcement. Whether Jenkins can keep his comfortable role as the eminence gris (or rather the eminence chauve) through this brewing storm seems unlikely. Vince Cable has already called this deal a “scandal of mammoth proportions”. We don’t know yet how Jenkins profited from it, but we do know around £300 million in fees were creamed off the £7 billion investment, and that consultant Amanda Staveley pocketed £40 million for herself. How long before Jenkins own share of the crony pie is revealed…

Posted by Becky North in Hot Money | November 3, 2008 11:44AM |