Barclays CEO Jes Staley is stepping down from his role as head of the multinational banking group after British regulators announced preliminary conclusions of a probe into his ties to convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. In a Nov. 1 statement, Barclays said it was made aware on Oct. 29 of initial findings of the investigation by Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) into Staley’s characterization to Barclays of his relationship with Epstein and the subsequent description of that relationship in Barclays’ response to the regulator. Barclays said Staley was stepping down as he intends to contest the conclusions of the probe, which the bank said “makes no findings that Mr. Staley saw, or was aware of, any of Mr. Epstein’s alleged crimes, which was the central question underpinning Barclays’ support for Mr. Staley following the arrest of Mr. Epstein in the summer …