Roger Allan Jenkins (born 30 September 1955) is a British
financier
An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...
and former international athlete. He is the brother of former World no.1 ranked 400m runner, Olympic medalist, convicted drug runner, and informant
David Jenkins.
[Mike Rowbottom]
Drugs in sport: The former cheat who prospered
The Independent, 14 December 1998
From 1994 to 2009, he worked for
Barclays
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
in a variety of roles, including as chief executive of Barclays Capital's Private Equity Group, and from April 2008 as Executive Chairman of Investment Banking and Investment Management for the Middle East.
[Milmo, Cahal]
"Roger Jenkins: The banker everybody wants to be seen with"
''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', 3 February 2009. Retrieved 22 February 2011.["Roger Jenkins appointed Chairman, Investment Banking and Investment Management, Barclays, Middle East"](_blank)
AMEinfo.com
AMEinfo.com is a provider of online business information about the Middle East region. Founded in the United Arab Emirates in 1993, AMEinfo.com offers English and Arabic information in daily news wires, editorial columns, feature articles, report ...
, 10 April 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
In 2008, he played a key role raising capital for Barclays Group in June and October 2008 totaling over 9 billion pounds from amongst others, the Qatar Investment Authority, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani. He left Barclays in the summer of 2009 and in 2011 joined the Management Committee and Investment Committee of the Brazilian investment bank
BTG Pactual
BTG Pactual is a Brazilian financial company that operates in the markets of investment banking, wealth management, asset management, corporate lending and sales and trading. It offers advisory services in mergers and acquisitions, wealth planni ...
until 2013.
Estimates suggested that Jenkins earned about £40 million during the years from 2005 to 2009, making him reputedly the highest paid banker in the City of London.
Background, education and sport
Jenkins was born in Scotland, the son of an oil refinery manager. He attended Edinburgh Academy and studied economics at
Heriot-Watt University
Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...
graduating with an Honors Degree. He was an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (ACIB) and received his Diploma in Financial Studies from the Institute.
In his youth he was an accomplished sprinter, representing Scotland and Great Britain from 1973 to 1978 and competed at the European Championships in 1974, the Commonwealth Games in 1978, and numerous internationals. He won a silver medal at the World Student Games in Rome in 1975 at 400m. Both Roger and his brother David feature prominently in the book ''A Life In A Day In A Year'' by
Peter Hoffmann which describes their athletics training at Meadowbank Sports Centre, Edinburgh, and their racing careers between 1973 and 1978.
Early career
Jenkins worked briefly at
BP[Cobain, Ian]
"Roger the Dodger – £40m king of tax"
''The Guardian'', 19 March 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2011. after graduation in 1977 and joined
Barclays
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
as a graduate trainee in 1978. From 1982 to 1984 he was head of private placements at Barclays's
investment banking
Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated wit ...
division, Barclays de Zoete Wedd (BZW), in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, leaving in 1987 to work for
Kleinwort Benson
Kleinwort Benson was a leading investment bank that offered a wide range of financial services from offices throughout the United Kingdom and Channel Islands. Two families, the Kleinworts and the Bensons, founded two different merchant banks in L ...
, where he was a Director and Co-Head of Financial Markets and he stayed for seven years.
[Slater, Steve]
"Top Barclays dealmaker Jenkins going solo"
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
, 20 July 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2011. He rejoined Barclays in 1994 to set up a group advising companies on tax and regulatory management.
[Mollenkamp, Carrick and Simpson, Glenn R.br>"How a UK banker helps US clients trim their taxes"]
''Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', 30 June 2006. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
Barclays
Structured Capital Markets
Jenkins developed an expertise in structuring and analysing the tax regimes of various countries.
His group became Barclays Capital Structured Capital Markets. It recruited beyond banking and included Iain Abrahams, a former lawyer at
Slaughter and May
Slaughter and May is an international law firm headquartered in Bunhill Row, London. Founded in 1889, Slaughter and May is considered to be one of the most prestigious law firms in the world and is a member of the "Magic Circle" of elite London ...
.
In 2009, ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' reported tales of a macho culture inside the Structured Capital Markets division, where, one source claimed, "the deals are so big you never say billion or million, you just say 16 bucks or 16 quid which meant billion".
[Lawrence, Felicity]
"Macho poker bets, summary sackings and an 'electric chair'"
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 20 March 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2011. The same source suggested that tax avoidance "was so big it became the engine of growth for the whole of the investment banking arm".
The Salz report stated that between 2000 and 2011 the SCM business generated revenue of 9.5 billion pounds. (Guardian Jill Treanor).
Wall Street Journal investigation
A 2006 investigation by ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', alleged that in 2003, Jenkins and his team had set up a company co-owned by Barclays and the US bank
Wachovia
Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total asse ...
, Augustus Funding LLC, which was incorporated in
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
but also had a London address and British directors. Although the company had no employees, products or customers, in 2004, it registered pretax profits of $317 million from assets such as Danish mortgage securities and U.S. Treasuries, on which it paid UK taxes of $94 million.
According to ''The Wall Street Journal'', thanks to "elaborate structure and cash flows", both Barclays and Wachovia were able to take credit for a full payment of the tax, meaning the $94 million could be claimed twice (a so-called "double dip"). The report suggested that Augustus Funding was one of at least nine structures involving US banks set up by Barclays. Barclays called the account of the transactions "materially inaccurate", while a statement from Wachovia said that they had "complied with all applicable laws and regulations".
iShares
Jenkins played a key role in the selling of Barclays'
iShares
iShares is a collection of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) managed by BlackRock, which acquired the brand and business from Barclays in 2009. The first iShares ETFs were known as World Equity Benchmark Shares (WEBS) but have since been rebranded ...
asset management business to CVC, the private equity firm but that did not close and Barclays Global Investors was then sold to the US firm BlackRock for $13.5 billion in June 2009.
After Barclays
Jenkins left Barclays in August 2009. He retained a consultancy role with the bank while establishing his own advisory business, Elkstone, based on his contacts in the Middle East.
[Treanor, Jill and Bowers, Simon]
"Roger Jenkins, Barclays' £40m-a-year man, to quit bank"
''The Guardian'', 19 July 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2011.[Werdigier, Julia]
''The New York Times'', 20 July 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2011.[Griffiths, Katherine]
"Business big shot: Roger Jenkins of Barclays"
''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', 20 July 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2011.[Goodman, Matthew]
"Roger Jenkins to quit Barclays and set up own venture"
''The Sunday Times'', 18 July 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
In February 2010, Jenkins launched an advisory firm in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, Elkstone Capital, looking at opportunities created by the
Irish financial crisis
The post-2008 Irish economic downturn in the Republic of Ireland, coincided with a series of banking scandals, followed the 1990s and 2000s Celtic Tiger period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment, a subsequent pr ...
. "If you are sitting in Dublin today, there are tremendous opportunities, from capital raising to restructuring to acquisitions," he said.
[Dey, Iain]
"Barclays star Roger Jenkins back hunting for banks"
''The Sunday Times'', 7 February 2010. Retrieved 23 February 2011. Nonetheless, Jenkins left Elkstone Capital in December 2011 without doing any deals.
In October 2011, it was announced that Jenkins had joined
BTG Pactual
BTG Pactual is a Brazilian financial company that operates in the markets of investment banking, wealth management, asset management, corporate lending and sales and trading. It offers advisory services in mergers and acquisitions, wealth planni ...
as a managing partner and would sit on the bank's global management and investment committees.
[Murphy, Megan]
"BTG gains top banker as it eyes expansion"
''The Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikk ...
'', 2 October 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2011
In 2016 he invested in a fund to acquire a cannabis cultivation facility in Northern California, and subsequently that ownership was sold.
Personal life
Jenkins married Catherine McDowell in 1980, a banker at Barclays, and had one daughter. In 1999 he married
Sanela Dijana Ćatić, whom he had met in the gym at the
Barbican
A barbican (from fro, barbacane) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer fortifications, defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes.
Europe ...
, where Roger Jenkins was living after the end of his first marriage.
[Cadwalladr, Carole]
"Diana Jenkins: Accidental Philanthropist"
''The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'', 27 September 2009. Retrieved 22 February 2011. Diana is a
Bosnian Muslim
The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry, cu ...
who was born in Bosnia but migrated to London from
Sarajevo
Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...
during the
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...
. Jenkins has said that they had "a bit of a hippy marriage". They have two children.
In 2011 it was announced that their marriage had come to "a natural end" in 2009 and they jointly filed for divorce in late 2011.
Diana said she still loves her husband but she needs to be free, saying, "this is my time to be me".
In February 2018, Jenkins announced his engagement to Larissa Andrade, a Brazilian model and actress 29 years his junior living in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and on 11 August 2018 they were married in Txai,
Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...
, Brazil and subsequently divorced in December 2021.
Jenkins moved back to the United Kingdom in 2019.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Roger
1955 births
Living people
People educated at Edinburgh Academy
Alumni of Heriot-Watt University
Scottish bankers
British male sprinters
Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field)
Universiade silver medalists for Great Britain
Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games competitors for Scotland