(Bloomberg) -- Chris Tyrer, who led Barclays Plc's digital assets project, has left the British bank, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Tyrer started exploratory work earlier in the year on how the bank could get involved in cryptocurrencies, and whether it should do so, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. He worked on the project with Matthieu Jobbe Duval, who remains at Barclays, the people said.
Barclays sounded out clients earlier in the year to gauge interest in a cryptocurrency trading desk, people familiar with the matter said in April. The U.K. lender said at the time it was monitoring developments in the digital currency market but had no concrete plans to start such an operation.
The company is among a handful of large banks, including Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., exploring business opportunities in digital assets from trading, to derivatives and custody. Progress is slow as after having racked up billions of dollars in fines since the financial crisis, banks are desperate not to run afoul of compliance standards for anti-money laundering or market manipulation.
Until late last year, Tyrer ran Barclays's global energy-trading business. A spokesman for Barclays declined to comment on the departure.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alastair Marsh in London at amarsh25@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elisa Martinuzzi at emartinuzzi@bloomberg.net, Jon Menon, Ross Larsen
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