Roger Jenkins (banker)
Roger Allan Jenkins | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 30, 1955 Scotland, United Kingdom |
| Occupation(s) | Financier, former international athlete |
| Years active | 1973–present |
| Known for | Head of Private Equity, Principal Investments, and Structured Capital Markets at Barclays Capital; Executive Chairman overseeing Investment Banking and Investment Management in the Middle East; managing partner at BTG Pactual |
Roger Allan Jenkins (born 30 September 1955) is a British financier and former international athlete. He is the brother of Olympic medalist David Jenkins.
Starting in 2006, Jenkins held the position of head of Private Equity, Principal Investments, and Structured Capital Markets at Barclays Capital. In April 2008, he was appointed Executive Chairman overseeing Investment Banking and Investment Management activities in the Middle East. That same year, he was instrumental in securing over £9 billion in capital for Barclays Group. Jenkins departed Barclays in 2009. From 2011 to 2013, he served on the Management and Investment Committees at Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual. Reports indicate he earned approximately £40 million in 2005, ranking him among London's top-paid bankers.
Biography
Born in Scotland to a father employed as an oil refinery manager, Jenkins was educated at Edinburgh Academy and graduated with an Honours degree in economics from Heriot-Watt University. He was accredited as an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (ACIB) and earned a Diploma in Financial Studies.
Jenkins distinguished himself as a sprinter representing both Scotland and Great Britain between 1973 and 1978. His athletic career included participation in the 1974 European Championships, the 1978 Commonwealth Games, and winning a silver medal at the 1975 World Student Games. His sporting achievements alongside his brother David are chronicled in Peter Hoffmann’s A Life In A Day In A Year.
Early career
After completing his studies in 1977, Jenkins briefly worked at BP before joining Barclays as a graduate trainee in 1978. Between 1982 and 1984, he led private placements at Barclays de Zoete Wedd (BZW) based in New York City. He left Barclays in 1987 to join Kleinwort Benson, where he acted as Director and Co-Head of Financial Markets for seven years. Jenkins returned to Barclays in 1994 to create a group focused on advising companies regarding tax and regulatory management.
Structured Capital Markets
Jenkins developed expertise in structuring and analyzing international tax frameworks, which led to the creation of Barclays Capital’s Structured Capital Markets (SCM) division. This unit expanded its scope beyond traditional banking by recruiting specialists such as former Slaughter and May lawyer Iain Abrahams.
In 2009, The Guardian depicted SCM’s high-risk environment where deal values were casually discussed in billions using terms like "16 bucks" or "16 quid." Tax avoidance schemes reportedly became a significant revenue source for Barclays’ investment banking division. According to the Salz report, SCM generated revenues amounting to £9.5 billion from 2000 through 2011.
Wall Street Journal investigation
A 2006 Wall Street Journal report uncovered that in 2003 Jenkins and his team established Augustus Funding LLC, a joint venture between Barclays and US bank Wachovia. Registered in Delaware with a London address, this entity had no employees or clients yet posted $317 million pretax profits in 2004 derived from assets such as Danish mortgage securities and U.S. Treasury bonds, paying $94 million in UK taxes.
This arrangement enabled both banks to claim full credit for the taxes paid, effectively creating a "double dip" benefit. Augustus Funding was one of at least nine similar structures involving US banks created by Barclays. The bank challenged the report as "materially inaccurate," while Wachovia confirmed adherence to all applicable laws and regulations.
Jenkins was instrumental in efforts to divest Barclays' iShares asset management division to the private equity firm CVC; nonetheless, the transaction ultimately failed to materialize. Eventually, Barclays Global Investors was acquired by the American company BlackRock for $13.5 billion in June 2009.
After Barclays
Following his departure from Barclays in August 2009, Jenkins maintained a consultancy position while establishing his own advisory business, Elkstone Capital, which capitalized on his network within the Middle East.
Elkstone Capital commenced operations in Dublin in February 2010, aiming to exploit prospects emerging from the Irish financial crisis by concentrating on capital raising, corporate restructuring, and mergers and acquisitions. Despite this focused approach, Jenkins exited Elkstone in December 2011 without having finalized any transactions.
In October 2011, Jenkins joined BTG Pactual, a Brazilian investment bank, as a managing partner. He became part of both the global management and investment committees to aid the bank’s growth initiatives.
In 2016, Jenkins participated as an investor in a fund that purchased a cannabis growing facility located in Northern California; this asset was subsequently sold.
Personal life
Jenkins wed Catherine McDowell, a Barclays banker, in 1980; the couple had one daughter. In 1999, he married Sanela Dijana Ćatić, a Bosnian Muslim who had relocated to London during the Bosnian War. Their paths crossed at the Barbican where Jenkins resided after his first divorce. He characterized their union as "somewhat of a hippy marriage." Together they had two children.
Their marriage concluded amicably in 2009, with divorce proceedings jointly initiated toward the end of 2011. Diana Jenkins conveyed enduring fondness but stressed her desire for autonomy.
In February 2018, Jenkins became engaged to Larissa Andrade, a Brazilian model and actress nearly three decades younger than him. The couple married in August 2018 in Bahia, Brazil, and later divorced in December 2021.
Jenkins relocated back to the United Kingdom in 2019.