• Barclays on Monday named 56 new managing directors across banking, corporate banking, markets, and research. Their names are below.
• The bank named dozens more MDs in other areas of the bank, an insider told Business Insider.
• Barclays has had a rocky year after the shock departure of Tim Throsby, the chief of its investment bank, in March.
• Visit BI Prime for more stories. Read more about the shakeup at Barclays here.

Barclays on Monday named its new crop of managing directors, the highest title at the firm. Some 56 new MDs were named across banking, corporate banking, markets, and research.

The bank also named dozens more MDs in other areas of the bank, making the overall number much higher, an insider told Business Insider.

Barclays earlier this year dropped a bombshell when it announced that Tim Throsby would step down as head of its investment bank. His departure kicked off a shake-up at the company that is still rocking employees.

Insiders at the bank in September told Business Insider that a de facto hiring freeze was afoot — roles were staying unfilled, bonuses got cut, and senior staff were running out the door. Throsby had ramped up managing-director hiring since joining in 2016.

Barclays is keeping a tight leash on pay, particularly for investment and corporate banking, and has set aside less for bonuses. CEO Jes Staley set ambitious full-year return goals and has been slashing costs to help meet them.

The bank has also been navigating uncertainty around Brexit. Still, it has announced some high-profile hires, including some who have come on board after Throsby's exit.

The bank declined to comment.

Here is the list:

Banking

• Omar Alghanim
• Nishant Amin
• Asmaa Boutachali
• Jose Briceno
• Paolo De Luca
• Dino Dedic
• Sean Diskin
• Tanja Gihr
• Michael Gingue
• Samuel Jackson
• Ashish Jhaveri
• Ernest Kwarteng
• George Lee
• Patrick Leonard
• Eelko Luning
• Sean Lynch
• Brian Malbacho
• Patricia Martinez
• Tatsuya Maruyama
• Justin Peagram
• Henry Pinnell
• James Potts
• Jeremie Renaudin
• Karan Shah
• Steve Song
• Olga Tavolzhanskaya
• Nicola Tennent
• Peter Walgren

Corporate Banking

• Karen Johnson
• James Morris

Markets

• Julien Brissiaud
• Anthony Chiu
• Jonathan Dorfman
• Jonathan Gould
• Rupert Guest
• James Hackett
• Eric Hill
• Bilal Kahloon
• Sarah Kiveal
• Dan Krasner
• Devin Martignoni
• Marie McKenna
• Jitesh Parikh
• Ben Parkinson
• Matt Rogers
• Manish Saraf
• Rumit Sawjani
• Lucie Tremblay
• Evan Weinberg
• Michael Whang
• Sean White

Research

• Emmanuel Cau
• Aroop Chatterjee
• Paul Sullivan
• Kannan Venkateshwar
• Gena Wang

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• Uber and Lyft both expect to reach profitability in 2021, and are under massive pressure to do so following underwhelming public offerings this year. 
• Data scientists at Barclays studied data from 2.4 billion rides to determine how much elasticity the companies have to raise prices — which is widely seen as a necessary step for the industry. 
• The team concluded that both Uber and Lyft could reach profitability as soon as next year with modest price hikes, which aren't likely to hurt demand. 
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Uber's under massive pressure to turn a profit, and new data shows that could be attainable sooner than later.

Data scientists at Barclays crunched the numbers on 2.4 billion taxi and ride-hailing rides in New York City, the country's largest and most important market, and found that customers might be more receptive to a price hike than expected.

That's welcome news for both Uber and Lyft, which desperately need to raise prices at some point after using heavy discounts and coupons to grow and gain market share on one another.

"Our estimate of elasticity suggests Uber and Lyft can price to achieve positive operating profit with only a modest impact on volumes, disproving a key piece of the bear case," a group of analysts from the bank's macros strategy, data science, and equity research teams, said in a note to clients Tuesday.

Uber and Lyft only need to raise prices by a "modest" five to eight percent in 2020 to get to EBITDA profitability. That's a full year before the company told investors it expects to get there.

"Our current target with a ton of hard work from all of our teams is to get to total company EBITDA profitability for the full year 2021," Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber's chief executive, told investors in November, "as we see the benefits of global scale and efficiency and the best tech talent out there."

Similarly, Lyft told investors on its third quarter earnings call that it expects EBITDA profitability in the last quarter of 2021.

Slowing rides growth

Barclays says Uber is likely to see its rides business stagnate for the first time in its 10 years, especially if shared rides don't get the same discounts they've been receiving.

"This, combined with the elasticity noted above, could mean upside to gross bookings (GBs), revenue, and EBITDA – and significant upside for whichever metric UBER decides to flex the most," the analysts said.

Of course, if price increases lead to a decrease in volumes, it could have an adverse affect. Here's how the bank's modeling the potential impacts:

New regulations could be a problem

New regulations, like those in New York that have already impacted Uber's ability to sign up new drivers, and limits how much drivers can cruise with empty vehicles, could post a big risk, Barclays says, "but not an existential one."

"While rides are likely to decrease in response to higher fees, we do not believe the magnitude of the fees enacted or under consideration is sufficient to alter the growth trajectory of ride-hailing companies," the analysts said.

And bans like London's revoking of Uber's license earlier in December aren't likely to be repeated either: "We think this risk is almost non-existent in practice for the industry," they said.

All things considered, the closer the companies get to profitability, the longer of a leash they have to keep investing in new products as well as sales and marketing.

"While they might not choose to do so, because in management's view their long-term strategy is better served by investing for growth," Barclays said, "they appear to have the flexibility to do it if they want. "

SEE ALSO: Uber and Lyft know they have to raise prices in order to turn a profit. Neither of them wants to make the first move.

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• On Wednesday, credit card startup Brex announced it had secured $200 million in debt financing from Credit Suisse.
• This is the second round of debt financing for the $2.6 billion startup following a $100 million round in June from Barclays — and the third funding event overall.
• Brex CFO Michael Tannenbaum told Business Insider that the company's fundraising strategy "makes sense" given its rapid pace of growth and continuous development of new products and services that are more asset-intensive than its original credit cards for startups.
• This year alone, Brex has announced a San Francisco cafe exclusively for cardholders, a checking account, a members-only lounge, and ACH transfers. Tannenbaum said that pace will only continue, if not accelerate, going into 2020.
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Buzzy credit card startup Brex has had a breakout year. 

In the last 12 months, the company has swiftly expanded beyond its roots as a "black card for startups" to include a checking account service, ACH transfers, a members-only lounge, and a restaurant.

Its presence at the annual startup conference TechCrunch Disrupt was so ubiquitous that it wasn't clear whether the conference was essentially a customer marketing event for the startup itself. The sleek black and orange ads blanket San Francisco's buses, newspaper stands, and billboards.

The cherry on top of the company's year is a whopping $200 million round of debt financing led by banking giant Credit Suisse, the company announced Wednesday. The financing will help fund the company's e-commerce credit card, also launched this year, Brex CFO Michael Tannenbaum told Business Insider.

"Debt makes sense for business models that are more asset intensive, because debt helps unlock additional funding capacity for these assets," Tannenbaum said. "Fintech is a good example of these type of businesses. If you look at scale financial services companies, including credit card companies, most of them will take advantage of the debt capital markets in addition to the equity capital markets."

This is the second debt financing round for Brex in 2019, and its third funding event of the year, according to PitchBook data. The $2.6 billion startup raised $100 million in debt financing from Barclays in April, and completed a new venture round, also $100 million, in June.

Tannenbaum said that the venture fundraising and the debt "serve different purposes." It doesn't make sense for Brex to dilute equity in the company just to get the cash it needs to back the core credit-related aspects of its business, he said.

"We raise equity to fund the operations of the business, while the debt is used to leverage our balance sheet and the credit card receivables that arise as part of our corporate credit card business. Debt is much more efficient financing for that part of our business," he said.

However, there's no avoiding the fact that taking on this much debt financing does complicate matters when it comes to balancing the books.

To help steady the course, Brex also announced Wednesday that it was bringing on former American Express underwriter Mira Srinivasan as Head of Credit and fintech startup exec Erica Dorfman as VP of Cash. Marco Mahrus, from Uber's payments team, rounds out the senior leadership team as VP of Payments.

"These individuals are consistent with our overall hiring strategy at Brex, which is to bring leaders who have experienced scale and success at other companies," Tannenbaum said. "Mira brings expertise from best in class corporate card underwriter American Express, Marco from the highly respected payments organization at Uber, and Erica from SoFi and then Tally."

Those fresh faces will be necessary going into 2020, Tannenbaum said, as the company is not slowing down its growth, already breakneck even by Silicon Valley standards, in the new year.

"The pace of innovation and product investment, alongside the overall value we add to our customers, will only continue," Tannenbaum said.

SEE ALSO: Andreessen Horowitz's new growth fund just invested $30 million into Imply, an open source data analytics startup taking on Microsoft and Salesforce's Tableau

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• A series of five reports that Barclays drew up last year drew a largely negative portrait of a Warren presidency, according to a recent Mother Jones report.
• They assessed negative impacts on private equity, the energy and tech sectors, as well as corporations.
• But Barclays analysts also said that a Warren could be a boon to certain segments of the economy, like embattled regional banks.
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Investors are taking stock of what an Elizabeth Warren presidency could look like, and they're starting grow more fearful of her effect on their bottom line.

Mother Jones reported on Friday that the research arm of Barclays — a major bank that Warren has criticized in the past — circulated five reports late last year to paying investors looking to get ahead on the tumultuous Democratic primary.

Barclays reportedly analyzed around 50 of Warren's proposals to assess its impact on credit, municipal, and equity markets. Here are a handful of conclusions the London-based bank reached, per Mother Jones:

• Getting rid of tax loopholes "would likely limit the size" of private equity.
• Her proposals to break up tech companies would "be detrimental to the performance of these companies" and "erode the value of the companies that own them.
• Eliminating fracking would be "broadly negative" for the energy sector.
• Warren's corporate tax plan "would directly impact corporate earnings."
• Her signature wealth tax plan would "likely crimp investment in the economy."

The Barclays analysts also said that Warren might appoint regulators who give out much stiffer penalties for corporate wrongdoing. They also noted that she would have room as president to use executive orders and pass laws using that method.

It could lead to a similar approach to power that former President Obama's had in his second term to advance his stalled domestic agenda. On Wednesday, Warren unveiled another piece of her student debt relief plan pledging to circumvent Congress and enact it using executive authority. 

Still, they also said a Warren administration could benefit certain segments of the economy. If she were to break up Wall Street's biggest banks, the Barclays researchers said, the move could benefit smaller regional banks that have been squeezed as a result of consolidation.

The reported documents underscore pervasive views on Wall Street that her presidency would damage their way of doing business.

The Massachussetts senator has centered her campaign around a vision of "big, structural change" that would fundamentally remake the American economy, and many of her proposals seek to tilt the scales of power away from corporations and the rich.

Warren's progressive candidacy has drawn broadsides from wealthy and financial titans over the past year. Microsoft founder Bill Gates criticized her wealth tax, which would slap a 2% levy on households with assets over $50 million and a 3% tax on those worth over $1 billion.

Among Warren's biggest critics on Wall Street have been hedge fund investor Leon Cooperman and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. But she's often welcomed those public clashes and even used it for her campaign ads.

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• Barclays is planning to hire double-digit numbers of managing directors to expand its investment bank in 2020.
• The bank improved its dealmaking market share in the US in 2019 and global banking head Joe McGrath has internally expressed ambitions to further bolster its platform. 
• Global executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles is understood to have landed a mandate to recruit senior bankers for the firm, with several searches already underway. 
• Hiring ambitions by Barclays and UBS may signal another fiercely competitive year for senior investment bankers.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Barclays has hatched plans to hire double-digit numbers of senior investment bankers this year as it looks to further expand its share of the US investment-banking fee pool. 

The British bank clawed back dealmaking market share from rivals in 2019, and global banking head Joe McGrath has recently spoken internally about the firm's ambitions to capitalize on the momentum and expand its investment banking platform, one insider said.

As part of the plans, Barclays is targeting at least 10 to 12 managing director-level hires to bolster underperforming coverage areas, according to people familiar with the strategy.

The plan and the precise number of hires is flexible, sources said, but global executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles is understood to have landed a mandate to recruit senior bankers for the firm, with several searches already underway. 

Representatives for Barclays and Heidrick declined to comment. 

Barclays hired 10 investment banking MDs in the Americas region in 2019, according to industry reports from Wall Street recruiting and consulting firms. On the flipside, nearly 20 MDs departed the firm last year, including a cadre of financial institutions bankers. 

The bank's focus last year was hiring for its technology-banking practice, according to a source familiar with its strategy, but its 2020 push will target hires across sectors. The hires will primarily focus on the US market, the largest investment-banking fee pool in the world.

Barclays improved its US dealmaking market share in 2019, rising one spot to 5th in investment-banking fees while improving its market share to 5.7%, up from 5.4% in 2018, according to Dealogic. In US mergers and acquisitions, the bank held steady in 5th place but improved its share to 5.3%, up from 4.9% in 2018. 

It remains to be seen whether Barclays' ability to attract top-flight bankers will be impacted by cuts to the investment bank's 2019 bonus pool amid the firm's efforts to reach return-on-equity goals mandated by CEO Jes Staley.

Barclays' plans follow the news that UBS is aiming to add 20 MD-level dealmakers, with a focus in the US, over the next two to three years, according to Bloomberg. UBS brought aboard 20 senior-level investment bankers in the US in 2019, according to the reports from recruiting and consulting firms.

The hiring ambitions of two of the top European banks may signal another fiercely competitive year for senior investment bankers.

With new leadership gripping the reins at top investment banks, turmoil enveloping others, and a still scorching dealmaking environment, a vigorous appetite in the US for top rainmakers has become a constant over the past two years. 

SEE ALSO: Barclays insiders say a hiring freeze is afoot as roles stay unfilled, bonuses get slashed, and senior staff flee

SEE ALSO: Barclays has lost a quintet of FIG bankers over the past month — and it shows how Jes Staley's bonus cuts may be affecting morale

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• Laka, a London-based insurtech, has just raised $4.7 million in new funds from VC investors LocalGlobe and Creandum.
• The startup wants to "change the fundamentals of the insurance market," according to its CEO Tobias Taupitz and will use the funding to fuel its hiring plans and European expansion. 

• Laka utilizes a community-led model which it claims leads to a lower cost and better service for its customers. 
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UK-based insurtech startup Laka has raised $4.7 million from top European VCs LocalGlobe and Creandum. 

Based in London with an office in Bristol, UK, Laka offers insurance products for cyclists based on a community-led model. Founded in 2017, the startup wants to "change the mindset" of customers by flipping the traditional insurance model. 

"Insurance has probably been using the wrong business model for centuries," Laka's cofounder and CEO Tobias Taupitz told Business Insider in an interview. "People in our community care about their bike and we're changing people's mindsets about how insurance can be done."

In effect, Laka leverages its community of 5000 cyclists to pay monthly fees for the service which is determined based on whether someone has made a claim rather than a standardized cost at the start of a month. The company claims that this process puts the customer first and leads to it being 25% cheaper on average than its competition. 

Other specialist cycling insurers in the UK include Yellow Jersey, Bikmo, PedalSure, and CyclePlan alongside policies from larger organisations like Aviva and Evans Cycles.

Investors seem to agree. LocalGlobe co-led the fundraising with European fund Creandum which will assist Laka in its plans to expand on the continent, starting with The Netherlands in the first half of the year. Other investors in the round include Yes VC, and angel investors Nick Evans, chairman of upmarket cycling gear firm Rapha and Oren Peleg formerly the CEO of Fitness First. The new raise brings Laka to a total of $6.4 million. 

"These funds have a great track record and they support our vision to go beyond the UK," Taupitz added. "Our aim is to change the fundamentals of the insurance market by serving passionate people."

Laka was founded by Tobias Taupitz, Jens Hartwig and Ben Allen, with the former having previously worked in investment banking at Barclays doing M&A in fintech and insurance. Taupitz says his passion for cycling and a desire to make a fundamental change in insurance was behind the decision to leave the "golden cage" of banking. 

"The beauty of Laka is it returns insurance to its pure, mutual heritage," said Remus Brett, partner at LocalGlobe. "Laka's members and their shared interests incentivize positive behaviour which in turn benefits the entire community. These principles are over 300 years old, the difference being technology and increasing consumer awareness that traditional insurance models, with complex clauses, excesses and a painful claims process are fundamentally broken. "

Laka's next steps alongside a fresh hiring push is to further develop its product range so it can work more deeply with customers by finding ways of providing for them in the event of a cycling accident which damages them physically, alongside their bike. 

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• Barclays says its CEO is being probed by UK regulators over his relationship to Jeffrey Epstein.
• The board is backing Staley for now, saying the CEO has been "sufficiently transparent with the company."
• "Like Teflon: that's one way to describe CEO Jes Staley," said Neil Wilson at Markets.com. "Others may be less kind."
• Visit Business Insider for more stories. 

Barclays delivered a bombshell on Thursday, saying that UK financial authorities are investigating its CEO Jes Staley over his relationship to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Britain's Financial Conduct Authority, along with the regulatory watchdog, Prudential Regulation Authority are looking into "Mr. Staley's characterisation to the company of his relationship with Mr. Epstein, and the subsequent description of that relationship, in the company's response to the FCA," Barclays said in a statement on Thursday while reporting fourth quarter earnings.

Because he has been "sufficiently transparent with the company as regards the nature and extent of his relationship with Mr. Epstein," the bank said, "Mr. Staley retains the full confidence of the board."

Like Teflon

"Like Teflon: that's one way to describe CEO Jes Staley," said Neil Wilson at Markets.com. "Others may be less kind."

Staley has had wobbles before. In 2018, Staley was slapped with a fine of more than £600,000 ($778,000) by the same UK regulators following his attempts to unmask a whistleblower at the bank in 2016.

"Coming after the whistleblowing fine, it's looking like the cat may be running out of lives," Wilson said. "I wonder if he can survive this."

While "Staley has steered the ship through some choppy waters for European banking," Wilson said, revenues missed consensus targets. The bank, blaming macro uncertainty and low interest rates, backed down from its goal of a more than 10% return on tangible equity in 2020.

That "takes the shine off things," Wilson said, and pushed the shares 3% lower in London trading. "Cost-cutting needs to go beyond trimming bonuses."

The Barclays statement read: "Earlier in his career Mr. Staley developed a professional relationship with Mr. Epstein," as has been reported by multiple media outlets. 

It continued: 

"In the summer of 2019, in light of the renewed media interest in the relationship, Mr. Staley volunteered and gave to certain executives, and the Chairman, an explanation of his relationship with Mr. Epstein. Mr. Staley also confirmed to the Board that he has had no contact whatsoever with Mr. Epstein at any time since taking up his role as Barclays Group CEO in December 2015.

The relationship between Mr. Staley and Mr. Epstein was the subject of an enquiry from the Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), to which the Company responded. 

The Board will continue to cooperate fully with the regulatory investigation, and will provide a further update as and when it is appropriate to do so."

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• Barclays CEO Jes Staley is being investigated by authorities in the UK because of his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the bank said in a statement while announcing its fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday.
• Prosecutors in a new lawsuit against Epstein's estate allege that the former wealth manager ran a "trafficking pyramid scheme" from his private island in the US Virgin Islands until 2018.
• Epstein was found dead of a suicide in a Manhattan jail on August 10 as he awaited trial on charges of sex trafficking minors.
• Epstein was known for jet-setting with the likes of L Brands CEO Les Wexner, Bill Gates, President Bill Clinton, and Prince Andrew, the third child of the UK's Queen Elizabeth.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Jeffrey Epstein counted Barclays CEO Jes Staley as one of his many famous friends, and now the British banker is being investigated on account of their relationship.

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority opened an inquiry into Staley's relationship with Epstein, Barclays said in a statement while announcing its fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday. However Staley "retains the full confidence of the board," the statement read, as he was "sufficiently transparent with the company as regards the nature and extent of his relationship with Mr. Epstein." 

Jeffrey Epstein ran a years-long "trafficking pyramid scheme" from the US Virgin Islands, prosecutors alleged in a lawsuit against the former wealth manager's estate in January. Meanwhile, the convicted sex offender maintained a vast social and professional network both on and off the Islands, which even included the wife of the US Virgin Islands' former governor. The former hedge-fund manager kept his client list under wraps, but he often bragged of his elite social circle that included presidents and Hollywood stars.

"I invest in people — be it politics or science," Epstein was known to say, according to New York Magazine. "It's what I do."

Epstein, 66, died by suicide in a Manhattan jail on August 10, as he awaited trial on charges of sex trafficking of minors. He had been in police custody since he was arrested on July 6, shortly after exiting his private jet in New Jersey's Teterboro Airport. He pleaded not guilty on July 8 and was being held without bail in New York City. On July 25, Epstein was placed on suicide watch after a reported suicide attempt that had led to his hospitalization.

In 2007, Epstein pleaded guilty to charges of solicitation of prostitution and procurement of minors for prostitution in Florida.

Here's what we know about the famous people who crossed paths with Epstein.

SEE ALSO: Jeffrey Epstein made $200 million in 5 years after he registered as a sex offender. Here's how the mysterious financier made his fortune

DON'T MISS: From Victoria's Secret to Prince Andrew: Jeffrey Epstein connections just keep derailing the careers of billionaires, royals, and the like. Here's the full list.

President Donald Trump once considered Epstein a friend.

The future president claimed in 2002 that he had a long friendship with Epstein. "I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy," Trump said, according to New York Magazine. "He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life."

According to Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, Trump now believes the crimes Epstein was charged with are "completely unconscionable and obviously criminal." She also labeled them "disgusting," according to a July report from the Associated Press.

"The president told me this morning he hasn't talked to Epstein, he doesn't think he's talked to him or seen him in 10 or 15 years," Conway added.

Former President Bill Clinton traveled with Epstein in 2002 and 2003.

A statement released in July by Clinton spokesperson Angel Ureña said the former president traveled to Europe, Asia, and twice to Africa on Epstein's private jet. Clinton's staff and Secret Service agents also went on these trips, which were to further the work of the Clinton Foundation, according to the statement.

At the time, Clinton told New York Magazine through a spokesperson that Epstein was "both a highly successful financier and a committed philanthropist with a keen sense of global markets and an in-depth knowledge of twenty-first-century science."

Ureña also said that Clinton and Epstein haven't spoken in "well over a decade" and that Clinton "knows nothing about the terrible crimes" Epstein was charged with.

Actor Kevin Spacey and comedian Chris Tucker also took trips with Epstein.

Epstein, Clinton, Spacey, and Tucker spent a week in 2002 touring AIDS project sites in South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, and Mozambique for the Clinton Foundation, according to a New York Magazine report.

Spacey was also charged with sexual assault, but in December, The New York Times reported that the case had been dropped by the plaintiff's estate. The plaintiff, a 62-year-old massage therapist, died in September.

Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell is Epstein's ex-girlfriend — and alleged madam.

Maxwell, 57, is a British socialite and the daughter of media tycoon Robert Maxwell.

She started dating Epstein shortly after moving to New York in 1991, Business Insider previously reported. After they broke up, court documents allege that Maxwell started recruiting underage girls for him to have sex with.

The FBI is investigating Maxwell's relationship with Epstein, Reuters reported in December, as the British heiress is reportedly hiding out with armed guards in the United States or the United Kingdom.

Prince Andrew and Epstein were close friends, the Guardian reported in 2015.

Maxwell introduced Epstein and the Duke of York in the 1990s, the Guardian reported, and the two became close friends.

The Duke is the son of the UK's Queen Elizabeth. He has also been criticized for frequently taking flights on the taxpayer's dime while serving as the country's special representative for international trade. This earned him the nickname "Airmiles Andy," according to the Washington Post.

Court documents reviewed by the Guardian allege that Epstein instructed Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a 15-year-old employee at Trump's Mar-a-Largo resort, to have sex with Prince Andrew on three separate occasions. Buckingham Palace said in 2015 that the allegations against Prince Andrew were "false and without any foundation," according to the Guardian.

According to a July 22 article from NY Magazine's Intelligencer, a number of royals and royal connections were among Epstein's contacts. That includes Prince Andrew's then-wife, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York; and Charles Althorp, Princess Diana's brother. According to Intelligencer, all three were named in Epstein's black book; Ferguson and Prince Andrew were also named in his private jet log.

In a interview with the BBC in November, Prince Andrew said his relationship with Epstein brought him "opportunities," and that his slowness in ditching Epstein as a friend was because of his tendency to be "too honorable." The interview was widely criticized over Prince Andrew's lack of sympathy with Epstein's victims and his defense of his friendship with the convicted sex offender, Business Insider reported.

Prince Andrew resigned from public royal duties in November, Business Insider reported.

L Brands CEO Les Wexner is Epstein's only confirmed client.

Epstein became a trusted confidant of Wexner's while Epstein managed the CEO's fortune, according to Vanity Fair. Wexner has a net worth of $6.7 billion, Bloomberg reported. The magazine reported that Wexner allowed Epstein to take an active role in L Brands, which owns Bath & Body Works, Express, and Victoria's Secret.

In 1989, Wexner used a trust to buy an Upper East Side townhouse that is believed to be the largest private residence in Manhattan for $13.2 million, Vanity Fair reported. Epstein moved in after Wexner and his wife, Abigail Koppel, moved to Ohio in 1996. Wexner's trust transferred ownership of the house to Epstein in 2011 for $0, Bloomberg reported.

Wexner later fired Epstein as his money manager. "Mr. Wexner severed ties with Mr. Epstein more than a decade ago," an L Brands spokesperson told Forbes in July.

Former Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta worked with Epstein's legal team to arrange a plea deal after Epstein was charged with solicitation of prostitution and procurement of minors for prostitution in Florida in 2007.

An investigation by the Miami Herald revealed that Acosta, then a US attorney, had enough evidence against Epstein to request a life sentence. Instead, he reportedly met with one of Epstein's lawyers, who happened to be a former colleague of Acosta's.

In the resulting plea deal, Epstein served 13 months in a private wing of a county prison, which he was allowed to leave six days a week to work in his office.

Business Insider previously reported that Acosta said he was "pleased that NY prosecutors are moving forward with a case based on new evidence," on Twitter.

Acosta resigned on July 12.

Film publicist Peggy Siegal planned a star-studded dinner party for Epstein and Prince Andrew at Epstein's New York mansion in 2010.

Siegal, known for hosting events to promote films including "The Big Short,""Argo," and "The Revenant" to Oscar voters, invited Epstein to screenings after he was released from prison in 2010, according to The New York Times.

"I was a kind of plugged-in girl around town who knew a lot of people," Siegal told The New York Times. "And I think that's what he wanted from me, a kind of social goings-on about New York."

Siegal also planned a dinner party for Epstein and Prince Andrew at his Upper East Side home. The event was attended by Katie Couric, George Stephanopoulos, and Chelsea Handler. "The invitation was positioned as, 'Do you want to have dinner with Prince Andrew?'" Ms. Siegal said. Many of the guests didn't know who the host was or about his criminal history, The New York Times reported.

A spokesperson for Siegal told Business Insider that Siegal's relationship with Epstein was social, not professional. Siegal told The New York Times that she ended her relationship with Epstein at the height of the #MeToo era in 2017.

Netflix, FX and Annapurna Pictures severed their ties with Siegal in July after her connection to Epstein became public, Variety reported.

Epstein also told the Times that he spoke often with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Epstein said that MBS had visited Epstein's Manhattan mansion many times and had a framed photo of the crown prince hanging on the wall, according to New York Times reporter James B. Stewart.

Representatives of MBS did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

According to the New York Times, Epstein claimed to have advised Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

In an interview published in the New York Times on August 12, Epstein claimed that Elon Musk had sought him out to help manage the trouble he had gotten into with the SEC a year earlier, in August of 2018.

Epstein told reporter James B. Stewart that he had promised to keep his work for Tesla private because of his prior conviction. Epstein also warned that both Musk and Tesla would deny their connection to Epstein if it ever became public, the Times reported. In a statement to Business Insider, a spokesperson for Musk denied Epstein's claims of having served as an adviser to the CEO.

Musk and Maxwell were photographed at an Oscars after-party hosted by former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter on March 2, 2014, in West Hollywood. The same Musk spokesperson told BI that "Ghislaine simply inserted herself behind him in a photo he was posing for without his knowledge."

Musk has confirmed crossing paths with Epstein at least once, Business Insider reported. Musk, Epstein, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg were all guests at a dinner hosted by LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman sometime after he was released from jail in 2008.

MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito quietly worked with Epstein to secure anonymous donations, Vanity Fair reported.

Ito worked with other directors and staff at the MIT Media Lab to quietly receive large anonymous donations from Epstein after he was convicted of soliciting underage girls for prostitution, a The New Yorker exposé published on September 6 reports. The article contains emails sent between Ito and Epstein.

The emails show Epstein also worked as an in-between for other wealthy donors, including Bill Gates and Leon Black, and that Epstein had a role in determining what his donations would be used for at MIT, contradicting previous statements from Ito and the university.

Ito resigned from his posts at MIT, The New York Times Company, and the MacArthur Foundation on September 7, Business Insider reported.

Epstein worked as a go-between for the MIT Media Lab and Bill Gates to arrange donations, Vanity Fair reported.

Emails obtained and published by The New Yorker show former MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito wrote that Gates was "directed by" Epstein to donate $2 million to the research lab in October 2014.

Gates also met with Epstein at least once in New York in 2013, and flew on one of his private planes to Palm Beach, Business Insider previously reported. "Bill attended a meeting in New York with others focused on philanthropy. While Epstein was present, he never provided services of any type to Bill," a Gates spokesperson told Business Insider.

A spokesperson for Gates told Business Insider that "Epstein was introduced to Bill Gates as someone who was interested in helping grow philanthropy. Although Epstein pursued Bill Gates aggressively, any account of a business partnership or personal relationship between the two is simply not true. And any claim that Epstein directed any programmatic or personal grantmaking for Bill Gates is completely false."

A New York Times investigation published in October found that Gates met with Epstein multiple times after Epstein's conviction in 2011, including at least three meetings at Epstein's Manhattan townhouse. Following the publication of that story, a spokesperson for Gates said Gates regretted the association, but Gates himself hadn't publicly addressed it until November, Business Insider's Aaron Holmes reported.

Gates said at The New York Times' Dealbook Conference that he believed "billions of dollars" would come from his meetings with Jeffrey Epstein. "I made a mistake in judgment in thinking those discussions would go to global health," Gates said. "That money never appeared."

"I gave him the benefit of my association," Gates said.

Reid Hoffman defended Ito after news of Epstein's connections to the MIT Media Lab broke.

A "few years ago," Epstein attended a dinner Hoffman hosted to honor an MIT neuroscientist, Vanity Fair reported in July. Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk were also in attendance. Both denied having had ongoing relationships with Epstein to Vanity Fair through spokespeople.

Hoffman also implicated himself in the coverup of Epstein's donations to the MIT Media Lab. As pressure mounted on Media Lab director Joi Ito to resign, Hoffman defended Ito to author and fellow MIT Media Lab Disobedience Award jury member Anand Giridharadas in a private email, Giridharadas tweeted in September. "Hoffman basically hid behind bureaucracy and the old 'ongoing investigation' excuse," Giridharadas said. "He said it would be complicated to release the correspondence publicly because other names might get dragged in. Someone should tell him about redaction."

According to Giridharadas, Hoffman wrote in a second email that Giridharadas was making the situation "all about you" by threatening to resign. In the end, Giridharadas resigned from the Disobedience Award jury.

Hoffman not only sits on the Disobedience Award's jury, but funds it personally, according to the Media Lab's website. In 2017, MIT awarded Epstein and other donors "orbs" to thank them for their support, according to The Boston Globe. The orb looks similar to the trophy given to winners of the Disobedience Award.

A lawsuit has also shined light on Epstein's connection to former U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. John P. de Jongh while he was in office.

Gov. John P. de Jongh's wife Cecile de Jongh served on the board of Epstein's Financial Trust Co. for most of her husband's time in office, Business Insider's Becky Peterson and John Cook reported. Cecile de Jongh held the titles of secretary and vice president in her decade-long tenure with the company, even staying on board after Epstein was first charged with sexual assault in 2007.

Prosecutors in the US Virgin Islands alleged in January that Epstein was trafficking women and children through the US territory during that same time, as stated in a new lawsuit. The lawsuit describes one 15-year-old victim who was "forced into sexual acts with Epstein and others and then attempted to escape by swimming off the Little St. James island."

In a statement, a lawyer representing Epstein's estate told Business Insider that some of the allegations in the lawsuit were inaccurate — particularly allegations that the estate to this day engages in "a course of conduct aimed at concealing the criminal activities of the Epstein Enterprise."

"The Estate is being administered in accordance with the laws of the US Virgin Islands and under the supervision of the Superior Court of the US Virgin Islands," the statement said.

Barclays CEO Jes Staley is under investigation by British authorities because of his friendship with Epstein.

Staley had a "professional relationship" with Epstein that dated back to "early in his career,"Barclays said in a statement. 

"In the summer of 2019, in light of the renewed media interest in the relationship, Mr. Staley volunteered and gave to certain executives, and the Chairman, an explanation of his relationship with Mr. Epstein,"Barclays stated. "Mr. Staley also confirmed to the Board that he has had no contact whatsoever with Mr. Epstein at any time since taking up his role as Barclays Group CEO in December 2015."

The relationship is the subject of an investigation by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority, according to the bank.

If you are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) or visit their website to receive confidential support.

• Barclays will begin its formal search for a new CEO to succeed Jes Staley, The Financial Times reported.
• Plans for Staley to leave the bank by 2021 were already in the works, but there is a new sense of importance and speed in the search after an FCA probe announced this month it would look into Staley's relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, The Financial Times reported. 
• The successor will need a backgrund in investment banking, which constitutes about half of the bank's revenue, according to The Financial Times.

British bank Barclays is on the hunt for a new CEO.

The bank is about to call in headhunters in order to start its formal search for a new leader to replace current CEO Jes Staley, The Financial Times reported Monday, citing two people briefed on the plans. 

A probe by the Financial Conduct Authority into Staley's dealings with pedophile investor Jeffrey Epstein motivated the bank's board to get the process underway, a person told The Financial Times, though plans for Staley to leave the bank were already in place before the FCA announced its probe this month. Staley has said internally that he plans to leave the bank by 2021, and that could happen in May of that year at the annual meeting, the people said. 

But finding the right successor for the British bank could involve some distinct challenges. Barclays wants its next leader to have experience in investment banking, the branch of the bank that drives half of total revenue, The Financial Times reported. But many top investment banking executives hail from the US, where compensation packages for CEOs are much larger than in the UK, The Financial Times reported.

If Barclays hires from outside the bank, it may also have to pay a "golden hello," the term for when a bank makes up for expected income a hire loses by switching firms, but those buyouts are unpopular among investors and policians in the UK, The Financial Times reports.

Barclays will likely hire Spencer Stuart or Egon Zehnder, headhunting companies, to replace Staley, and the entire process could take around a year, the people told The Financial Times.

If the FCA probe into Staley requires him to leave earlier than the bank is ready for, it will appoint an interim head, one of the people told The Financial Times. Staley worked with Epstein from 2000 to 2013, losing contact by 2015, while Staley headed JPMorgan's private bank, at which Epstein was a client, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. The board stands behind Staley, The Journal reported. 

During his tenure at the bank, Staley built up the investment banking division, pushing back on attacks from activist investor Edward Bramson, who would rather see that business shrink, The Financial Times reported. He led Barclays to hit a 9% return on tangible equity, a core target for the bank, last year, the FT reported. But the bank's shares have lost around a quarter of their value under Staley's leadership, and he has been the subject of two regulatory investigations, The Financial Times reported. 

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• Barclays has hired ex-Goldman Sachs partner Chris Taendler to cohead global emerging markets and G10 linear FX trading.
• Taendler, who spent two decades at Goldman and made partner in late 2016, started at the British bank last week, sources said. 
• Barclays' fixed-income trading division had a strong year in 2019, growing revenues 12% to $4.3 billion. But it trails its major US competitors.  
• Roughly 50 Goldman partners have parted ways with the bank since David Solomon took over as CEO in late 2018, more than half exiting from the firm's securities division.  
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Barclays has hired an ex-Goldman Sachs partner to lead a fixed-income sales and trading unit as it looks to capitalize on momentum from 2019 and boost market share. 

The British lender has hired Chris Taendler, a recently retired Goldman veteran who helped run its emerging markets foreign-exchange business until last year, to lead a similar remit in Barclays' New York City office, according to two sources familiar with the appointment. 

Taendler started at the firm last week as cohead of global emerging markets and G10 linear FX, the sources said. He's running the business in tandem with Barclays veteran James Hassett, who is based in London.

The unit falls under the purview of Michael Lubinsky, the global head of macro trading. 

A Barclays spokeswoman declined to comment. 

After two decades at Goldman, Taendler resigned in early 2019— a little over two years after making partner at the prestigious investment bank. 

Roughly 50 Goldman partners have parted ways with the bank since David Solomon took over as CEO in late 2018, more than half exiting from the firm's securities division.  

In his new post, Taendler will be tasked with helping boost market share for Barclays' fixed-income, currencies, and commodities division, which is coming off a strong performance in 2019 but trails its major US competitors.

With equities and dealmaking revenues taking a hit industrywide in 2019, FICC was the lone bright spot for investment banks.

FICC revenues grew 3% to $66.2 billion in 2019, rebounding from two consecutive years of declines, according to industry data and consulting firm Coalition.

Those gains were spurred in part by strong demand for fixed-income products, especially mortgage bonds, which topped $2 billion in trading revenues in 2019 — the largest tally in a decade and a more than 550% gain from 2018.

Barclays ranked 7th among top investment banks in FICC sales and trading revenues in 2019, according to public earnings results. Its FICC unit grew revenues 12% to $4.3 billion. 

SEE ALSO: Goldman Sachs has lost at least 49 partners since David Solomon became CEO. We're keeping a running list — and compiling details from insiders about how the exits are being celebrated.

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• Billionaire hedge-fund manager Chris Hohn is trying to stop banks from funding coal plants in an effort to limit the use of the pollutant heavy power source.
• Hohn's foundation sent letters to Barclays, HSBC, and Standard Chartered banks, in addition to the leaders of the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, asking them to disclose their exposure to coal.
• The climate crisis has moved up the investor agenda in the past year as money managers have increasingly taken into account dangers posed by extreme weather.
• Hohn is a longtime climate activist and major donor to climate-focused organizations.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

British hedge-fund billionaire Chris Hohn has launched a campaign to persuade central banks to starve hundreds of planned coal-fired power plants around the world of finance, aiming to block the projects before they can pose a threat to the climate.

Hohn, a big donor to groups working on climate change, set out his concerns in letters to Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and the chairmen of Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered.

"Coal is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions globally and the risks of its continued use in the power sector are not being adequately addressed by regulators and the financial system," Hohn said a statement on the website of his Children's Investment Fund Foundation.

The website published the five letters late on Sunday, and a sixth to the Network for Greening the Financial System, a group of regulators pushing for better supervision of the risks posed by climate change. It includes members with a big economic stake in coal, such as Australia, South Korea, Japan, and China.

The climate crisis has moved up the investor agenda in the past year as money managers have increasingly taken into account dangers posed by extreme weather.

Investors are also concerned about possible risks to valuations of coal, oil and gas companies if governments decide to start rapidly cutting carbon emissions in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement to combat climate change.

Hohn, founder of hedge fund TCI, has emerged as one of the most outspoken investor voices urging companies to do more to tackle their own carbon emissions, and threatened in December to vote against directors who failed to act.

In his letter to Carney, dated February 28, Hohn warned that British banks were "highly likely" to suffer losses on coal financing as the cost of renewables continued to fall and regulations on air pollution and carbon emissions tighten.

He called for a dramatic tightening of the application of a supervisory requirement known as the "risk-weighting" applied coal loans - a move that would make coal plants far more difficult for banks to finance.

Hohn also urged regulators to force banks to publicly disclose their exposure to coal.

In his letters to Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered, Hohn urged the banks to reveal any coal exposure on their balance sheets and classify such loans as high-risk. The banks were not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Matthew Green; editing by Richard Pullin)

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• An employee at Barclays' NYC headquarters tested positive for the coronavirus.
• The employee has been self-quarantined since March 3 but likely contracted the virus while away from the office on February 22. 
• The bank has conducted deep cleanings since learning of the case, and it has asked colleagues that worked with or may have come in contact with the infected employee to self-quarantine, a Barclays spokesman said in a statement to Business Insider. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

An employee at Barclays' New York City headquarters tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and has been self-quarantined since last week, when the staffer learned they had been exposed to the virus. 

Barclays staff at the bank's 745 Seventh Ave. office building were told Tuesday afternoon that a colleague on the second-floor trading floor had tested positive for the virus, according to an internal memo seen by Business Insider.

"We can confirm that a member of our staff based in our New York trading operation has tested as positive for COVID-19," a Barclays spokesman said in a statement to Business Insider. "The health and safety of our staff, customers, and clients is our top priority and we are providing every support to the member of staff and their family."

The employee was notified Tuesday morning that they tested positive but had been self-quarantined since March 3, when they suspected they had been exposed to the virus, according to the internal memo from Paul Compton, the president of Barclays, and Americas CEO Richard Haworth.

Barclays officials believe the employee contracted the virus when they were away from the office on February 22, and the bank has been working with the affected employee to understand who they may have come in contact with before their self-quarantine, "including meetings internally and with clients," according to the internal memo. 

"All colleagues who sit in the immediate vicinity of the affected colleague have been notified today, and will self-quarantine for the next two weeks," the memo said. 

Since it learned of the employee's exposure to the virus on March 3, the bank has been conducting deep cleaning and is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local authorities to take the appropriate precautions, according to the statement to Business Insider.

"At this stage, we are operating business as usual; we continue to monitor the situation closely and will take further action as appropriate," the spokesman said. 

As the outbreak continues to spread, Wall Street firms have been grappling with how to protect workers and clients while keeping their sprawling operations running with as little disruption as possible.

As of Tuesday, there are 173 confirmed coronavirus cases statewide in New York and 36 cases in New York City.

BlackRock on Tuesday also confirmed an employee had tested positive for the virus. 

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• Barclays' data-science research group is still fairly new — it was established in 2018 and has consistently published reports since 2019.
• Ryan Preclaw and Adam Kelleher, who colead the group, spoke with Business Insider about how they adapted their approach over recent months to stay on top of the coronavirus. 
• Preclaw said Barclays' data-science research group was forced to react to datasets that deteriorated in quality or usefulness to stay ahead of the curve.
• In recent weeks, it has published multiple reports and high-frequency indicators, which give nearly real-time analysis via alternative datasets.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

As market volatility reaches record highs thanks to the spread of the novel coronavirus, banks are looking for any edge they can get when it comes to insights on how financial markets might react next. 

The unprecedented situation has created an opportunity for banks' research and data-science teams to demonstrate the capabilities they've built. One example is Barclays, which is just two years into establishing its data-science research group. 

Ryan Preclaw, who coleads the group, told Business Insider the bank was able to cut down a response time that might have typically taken days or weeks to release an analysis on the impact of the coronavirus. 

"Because we have a lot of the tools already built now, we're able to go in and take a good idea very quickly — look to see if it's going to work and be helpful. Once we see that it is, we can get something published out to clients in very short order," he said. 

Barclays' data-science research group is made up of two teams: investment sciences and data science. Preclaw heads up the former team, which focuses on implementing data science in the investment-research process. Meanwhile, Adam Kelleher leads the latter team, which builds analyses and models on top of datasets brought into the bank. 

And while the group has been in place since the beginning of 2018 and publishing reports regularly since 2019, the impact of the coronavirus on financial markets has forced an adjustment in its strategy. In recent weeks, it has published multiple reports and high-frequency indicators, which give nearly real-time analysis via alternative datasets such as public or geolocation data.

"It's definitely the most extreme or most dramatic opportunity," Preclaw said. "Prior to this, a lot of the value was in the flexibility of what we could do — that we can take a look at a situation that people were otherwise having a hard time understanding how they were going to get the nuances and figure out what's going on. This has allowed us to demonstrate that we're able to add speed on top of that."

Barclays adapted its approach in recent months 

Preclaw said interest in the coronavirus first came across the group's desk a few months ago. Initial work was based on data coming out of China. The goal wasn't to make predictions, he added, but instead to give people a framework so when new information was available, it could quickly be interpreted.

But eventually, a change in strategy was required as questions around the quality of the information were raised, Preclaw said.

"If we're really uncertain about the process by which that data is being generated, it's harder for us to feel confident about the kinds of insights that we're drawing from it," Preclaw said. 

At the same time, things were accelerating in the US. As a result, the team looked to more high-frequency data that was updated more often and would provide closer to a real-time look at things. The goal was to understand how government social-distancing policies would affect businesses. 

The team found success looking at open data that was publicly available, such as subway ridership or hits to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, Preclaw said.

However, eventually some of that information became obsolete. Preclaw said you didn't need a data feed to understand no one was riding the subway anymore.

Once again, changes were required, with the focus more on geolocation data, which provides insight into the location of electronic devices, such as cellphones, to understand how effective policies are at keeping people at home.

"We can do it with data that is a little bit more flexible and gives us a little bit more of a breadth of different things that we can look at to understand how it will change it," Preclaw said of using geolocation data.

Preclaw declined to get into specifics about the types of data Barclays would look at going forward. However, he did say clients were still interested in only macro trends. The general sentiment: How much are economies slowing down, and at what pace?

Eventually, the focus will shift to understanding when things have bottomed out. That, in turn, will lead people to ask about specific segments, Preclaw added.

"We needed to do some fast stuff to let people have a view into the world when it was unfolding very quickly," Preclaw said. "I think now the direction is to take a little bit of a step back — try to find the deeper insights that are going to take a little bit more work."

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• Barclays brought in about $250 million in trading revenue on March 16, the day after the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates, people briefed on the performance told Business Insider. 
• The revenue came from the bank's global trading desks, according to the people.
• Barclays ranked as the seventh-biggest investment bank in 2018, according to the latest Coalition figures available. 
• JPMorgan has also notched record volumes across a number of trading desks as clients look to change their positions. 
• At JPMorgan, trading volumes reached records across many products, a person who has seen the figures told Business Insider.
• Visit BI Prime for more stories.

Barclays traders turned in a monster trading day in the latest sign that the market rout has been good for Wall Street trading desks. 

The bank's global-markets business reaped about $250 million in revenue on March 16, according to people with knowledge of the performance. The revenue gains came across the trading franchise, including equity derivatives, according to one of the people. 

For Barclays, the performance bolsters CEO Jes Staley's decision to stand by the British bank's market-making businesses despite shareholder pressure to get rid of the units. Staley, a former chief of JPMorgan's investment bank, has committed to the business and communicated a vision for Barclays to be one of the only European banks with a top-tier investment bank. 

Barclays' performance came a day after the Federal Reserve made a surprise decision on March 15 to slash interest rates to nearly zero to help bolster a US economy reeling from the coronavirus and government demands for some citizens to shelter in place. Prices for bonds rise when interest rates fall, providing a boost to inventory that banks may have on their balance sheets. 

Barclays was ranked as the seventh-biggest investment bank through 2018, according to the data provider Coalition Ltd. Rankings for 2019 aren't available yet. 

The bank's franchise in G10 rates, G10 foreign exchange, credit, and prime brokerage all ranked between fourth and sixth, the highest rankings of any of its trading businesses, according to the Coalition data.

Barclays isn't the only trading operation to do well. On March 10, Bloomberg reported JPMorgan and Citigroup had brought in about $500 million more in revenue this year than at the same time last year across their equity-derivatives franchises. The wire service said trading spiked as investors moved to protect their stock portfolios from historic declines.

At JPMorgan, trading volumes reached records across many products, a person who has seen the figures told Business Insider. On March 9, the bank traded a record number of shares in the US. In foreign exchange, four of JPMorgan's top 10 all-time volume days were in a two-week period at the end of February and into March, according to the figures. Trading in interest rates, futures, and algorithmic execution all reached records as well. 

Banks are taking advantage of nearly unprecedented moves in the markets. The US stock market is now in bear-market territory after slumping more than 30% from the highs of the year on fears the coronavirus will bring economic life to a standstill. 

The market moves have brought a huge amount of volatility to the markets as well, which can make it difficult for trading desks to manage. On the day Barclays made its money, the CBOE Volatility Index, known as the VIX, spiked nearly to levels last seen in 2008.

The VIX surged to as high as 83.6 that day, short of the index high of nearly 90 that was set in October 2008. Two weeks ago, the VIX surged to its highest level since December 2008, and it has remained elevated since. It closed Monday near 63. 

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Business Insider launched Innovation Inc. in January, a newsroom-wide effort to catalog the digital transformations under way at the world's largest and most prominent companies.

While we have been planning this series for a while, it took on a whole new, urgent dimension as the coronavirus pandemic spread across America and disrupted how business is done.

The middle of a global pandemic may seem like an odd time to launch a newsletter. But remarkable stories of innovation are increasingly apparent underneath all the chaos. And what was a topic some companies simply paid lip service to is now critical to the survival of most organizations. 

So welcome to the Innovation Inc. newsletter! To stay informed on all of the disruption ahead, here's what you need to know: 

• Sign up here to get the biweekly Innovation Inc. newsletter delivered to your inbox 
• Our coverage will predominantly be available exclusively to BI Prime subscribers. If you're looking for a discount on a subscription to BI Prime, click here. 
• Have a tip to or feedback to share? You can reach me at JWilliams@BusinessInsider.com. 

My colleagues and I have long been following corporate America's digital transformation efforts— from how Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella turned the tech giant of yesteryear into a $1 trillion software behemoth to how energy titan Shell has shifted to place its bets on start-ups. 

For the past few weeks, however, I've seen my beat take on an entirely new meaning because of the coronavirus — perhaps the greatest disruption to the world economy in a century. 

Now, innovation is a matter of survival. Digital investments, for example, are required to ensure networks remain operational during the unprecedented shift to remote work as a last-ditch attempt to halt the spread of the virus. 

That's an advantage to those already farther along in their transformations.

Organizations that were already knee deep in their own digital overhauls are realizing the importance of those efforts and are doubling down on those initiatives. And those who haven't been as quick to invest could find themselves falling farther behind — a potentially difficult turnaround given that many IT budgets are getting slashed. 

This wedge between the "digitally affluent" and the laggards may have ramifications that last for a long time afterward — and a storyline we will definitely be following. 

A great example of that is my interview with Honeywell CEO Darius Adamczyk, who went into detail on the steps the 114-year-old company took to pivot from an industrial giant known for, say, thermostats, to a software powerhouse that is challenging the likes of Google and IBM. 

The coronavirus outbreak is not only driving disrupting all of our regular lives. It is also going to deepen the chasm between the firms that are serious about their digital overhauls and those just getting started, as Jonathan Lang, an analyst with global research firm IDC, told me last week. 

This pandemic is unprecedented in modern times, and so is the innovation required to stay ahead of it. We hope you'll join us as the story unfolds.

And to send you off this week, here are some of my favorite stories over the past month: 

• How a new Barclays data-science team is fast-tracking research and finding the most useful stats to measure the economic impact of the coronavirus 
• The CEO of SAP says that the biggest unexpected challenge of remote work is helping employees who live by themselves feel safe and connected
• Real-estate services giant JLL explains how the coronavirus could usher in a permanent 'paradigm shift' towards more remote work
• How a secretive AI startup is helping corporations manage the dramatic increase in customer-service calls from the coronavirus pandemic
• The CRO of $27 billion data giant Refinitiv says the coronavirus could permanently alter how it employs staff and serves clients
• SAP helped a client secure 500 hospital beds in just 30 minutes — and it shows the power of digital transformations in helping companies respond to the coronavirus pandemic
• How a data-management startup bumped its valuation to $2.3 billion despite the pandemic wreaking havoc on VC funding

SEE ALSO: Cisco's response to the coronavirus reveals how the pandemic is turbo-charging innovation — from donating video-conferencing units to healthcare systems to manufacturing hundreds of face shields daily via 3D printing

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• Barclays posted first-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street forecasts.
• The banking giant's markets income surged 77% to a quarterly record of £2.4 billion ($3 billion) as fixed income, currencies, and commodities income more than doubled.
• However, Barclays took a £2.1 billion ($2.6 billion) impairment charge to reflect the impact of the pandemic.
• "Given the uncertainty around the developing economic downturn and low interest rate environment, 2020 is expected to be challenging," CEO Jes Staley said in the earnings release.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

  ---

Barclays posted first-quarter earnings that beat the expectations of analysts polled by Bloomberg, as a record quarter for its markets segment helped to temper the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

The British bank stomached a £2.1 billion ($2.6 billion) impairment charge to reflect the fallout from the pandemic, driving its net income down 13% to £4.2 billion ($5.2 billion). Return on average tangible shareholders' equity also slid from 9.6% to 5.1%, well below the bank's target of 10% over time.

Here are the key numbers:

Revenue:£6.28 billion ($7.83 billion) versus the £5.34 billion ($6.66 billion) estimate.

Earnings per share:£0.035 ($0.044) versus the £0.033 ($0.04) estimate

"The impact of COVID-19 came late in what was until that point a good quarter," CEO Jes Staley said in the earnings release.

"Given the uncertainty around the developing economic downturn and low interest rate environment, 2020 is expected to be challenging," he added.

Pre-tax profits slumped 67% in Barclays' UK business, reflecting lower income in the Barclaycard consumer and business banking subdivisions and a £481 million ($600 million) impairment charge. 

In Barclays' international segment, markets income surged 77% to a quarterly record of £2.4 billion ($3 billion) as fixed income, currencies, and commodities income more than doubled.

However, that was offset by a six-fold rise in impairment charges to £1.6 billion ($2 billion), which pushed the segment's pre-tax profits down 26% to £822 million ($1.02 billion).

Barclays' stock jumped more than 5% in early European trading after the results.

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• Barclays' CEO said on Wednesday that offices may never see the same crowds again after the coronavirus pandemic subsides.
• "There will be a long-term adjustment to our location strategy," he told reporters following the announcement of the bank's first-quarter results.
• All over Wall Street executives are mulling massive changes to workplaces to promote safety.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

One of the UK's largest banks is rethinking its staffing and office strategies amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"There will be a long-term adjustment to our location strategy," Jes Staley, chief executive of Barclays, told reporters on Wednesday following the announcement of the bank's first-quarter financial report. "The notion of putting 7,000 people in the building may be a thing of the past."

He said the bank would be reevaluating its space needs, including at its London headquarters and branches around the world, given that the global company is now being run by staff "from their kitchens,"according to the BBC.

Barclays is far from alone as its Wall Street peers also ponder how exactly to return their thousands of workers to offices. According to a Bloomberg News report, those brainstorming sessions have included everything from redesigning lobbies and temperature checks to staggered returns and elevator attendants.

Real-estate experts have said the world needs to prepare for a "new normal" that's already begun to partially take shape. There are early signs of a move to the suburbs as people escape high-density locations that have been disproportionately hit by the virus.

Peter Miscovich, a managing director at JLL, told Business Insider's Dan Geiger that this period of remote work has his clients considering new ways of structuring its office space.

"We are looking at reimagining how people work,"he said.

Read Miscovich and two other experts' predictions for the future of the office post-pandemic here.

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• American Express, Bank of America, and other credit card issuers are offering relief for customers who have been financially affected by the coronavirus. If you need to defer your payments, contact your bank to discuss your options.
• Paying down credit card debt should remain a top priority, so you can avoid high APRs as much as possible. 
• If you're financially stable and not sure which credit card to use during the travel ban, consider a cash-back card or a card that earns bonus points on groceries or food delivery.
• Across the board, communication is key — if you need any financial assistance, work with your lender so you're on the same page. This will protect your credit score against negative marks for late payments.
• See Business Insider's list of the best credit cards with introductory APR offers.

It's hard to overstate the economic impact of COVID-19. More than 30 million Americans have applied for unemployment since the coronavirus pandemic began, and it's estimated that 14 million more have not been able to file for benefits yet. 

If you've been financially affected by the current crisis, you likely have questions about what relief you can expect from lenders, what the current situation means for your credit score, and whether you should even keep your current credit cards. We have answers to top questions about COVID-19 and credit cards below.

See Business Insider's FAQ on coronavirus stimulus checks for more information on what the pandemic means for your finances.

What if I lost my job?

American Express, Bank of America, and virtually every other credit card issuer is offering a relief program to customers who have been financially impacted by the coronavirus.

The exact policies vary depending on the bank, and you may be able to arrange additional relief options beyond what's been published if you contact the issuer and explain your situation.

Here's a brief overview of the kind of financial assistance you can expect from the major banks:

• American Express: Customers can contact the bank to discuss lower monthly payments, lower interest rates, and waived late fees. 
• Bank of America: You can request a payment deferral for your account online.
• Barclays: The issuer is allowing cardholders to skip the minimum payment due on their next two payment dates when they submit a request online. 
• Capital One: Cardholders who can't make their monthly payments should contact the issuer to discuss their options.
• Chase: Cardholders can request to delay three credit card payments via an online form.
• Citi: Citi customers can request waived late fees and waived minimum credit card payments via an online form.
• Discover: The issuer hasn't published any details of its relief options, but customers should contact Discover to discuss the possibility of deferred payments and more.
• Synchrony Bank: Synchrony Bank, which issues many popular store credit cards, hasn't published specific relief options, but customers who need assistance should call the number on the back of their card.
• US Bank: According to USA Today, the bank is offering assistance including waived credit card fees and the ability to skip payments, though the issuer hasn't published specific details. Contact the bank to discuss your options.
• Wells Fargo: Customers can contact Wells Fargo to discuss options including fee waivers and payment deferrals. 

Should I cancel my credit card?

Ultimately, the decision to keep or cancel your card comes down to personal preference. If you can comfortably pay the annual fee, it could be worth it to keep a travel credit card open and continue earning bonus rewards. If you have several credit cards with annual fees, on the other hand, now could be the time to see where you can downsize.

If you do decide to cut back on annual fees, consider downgrading your credit card to a no-annual-fee card instead of canceling it, so you can maintain your credit line. If you cancel a credit card instead of downgrading it, your total credit limit will decrease, which will in turn increase your credit utilization. The lower your credit utilization the better, and this factor accounts for 30% of your credit score.

Why did my bank lower my credit line?

Banks are allowed to lower your credit card's limit without warning, and with the current economic crisis leading lenders to limit risk, some cardholders are seeing their credit lines clawed back, even if they're reliable borrowers. 

Your credit limit doesn't just determine how much you can spend on a given card; it also factors into your credit score. Your credit utilization accounts for 30% of your score, with a lower utilization rate corresponding to a higher credit score. If your credit limit decreases, your utilization rate will increase. 

If your credit limit decreases, you can contact your bank to ask why, and to request that the original limit be reinstated. If the bank won't budge, you could consider opening a new credit card to offset the damage to your score. Don't open a new card if you aren't in a position to use it responsibly, but if you can pay off your statement balance in full each month, it could be a good opportunity to start working toward a sign-up bonus of points, miles, or cash back. 

How can I protect my credit score?

Your credit score is the number lenders look at when you apply for a credit card, a mortgage, or any other type of loan. The higher your score, the more likely you are to get approved for a loan, and to get the most favorable interest rates. 

One of the biggest factors that makes up your credit score is payment history (along with credit utilization), so if you need to skip any credit card payments, it's essential to contact the lender so you're on the same page — this way, the bank won't report any late payments to the credit bureaus. 

To protect your credit score, you'll also want to keep a close eye on your credit reports and monitor for any mistakes. The three major credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion— are currently letting consumers check their credit report for free each week for a year. Access your free reports at AnnualCreditReport.com. If anything on your report looks incorrect, you'll want to file a dispute.

What do I do about credit card debt? 

If you have credit card debt, reach out to the lending bank so you can work together on a payment plan. Paying off your credit card debt should be your top priority, because credit card debt entails high APRs and you'll want to minimize your interest fees as much as possible. Credit cards with introductory APR periods could help you consolidate and pay down debt while avoiding interest, but it may be challenging to get approved for one of these cards right now, as lenders tighten up their approval standards.

Keep in mind that if you lost your job due to the coronavirus pandemic, you may be able to pause payments on bills, including utilities, student loan payments, and insurance payments. The key is to reach out to the service provider to discuss your options; don't just assume you can pause your payments for the time being.

Should I cancel my travel rewards credit card now?

Given the current travel ban, it might feel difficult to justify paying the annual fee for your travel rewards credit card right now. Not only can you not take advantage of perks like airport lounge access, but it's unclear when we'll all be able to travel again — and in most cases it's not worth booking future trips during this uncertain period.

If you have a premium card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, paying $550 per year might be especially hard to swallow. Chase is giving Sapphire Reserve cardholders a $100 statement credit toward the annual fee, which may or may not sway you to keep that card open. Additionally, several Chase credit cards are now offering 5x rewards on food delivery through DoorDash and Tock through the end of May.

Ultimately, it really comes down to personal preference. If you can comfortably pay the annual fee, it could be worth it to keep your travel credit card open and continue earning bonus rewards on groceries and food delivery.

If you have several credit cards with annual fees, on the other hand, now could be the time to see where you can downsize. If you do decide to cut back on annual fees, consider downgrading your credit card to a no-annual-fee card instead of canceling it, so you can maintain your credit line and avoid dinging your credit score.

Which credit card should I use?

With travel on hold for the time being, now could be a great time to open a cash-back credit card. Consider options like the Citi® Double Cash Card, the Chase Freedom Unlimited®, and the Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card if you want to maximize the return on your everyday purchases.

That's not to say you shouldn't continue to earn rewards points as well. If you already have a rewards credit card, you may be able to rack up lots of points or miles on grocery and food delivery purchases.

Here are some of the best credit cards for earning bonus rewards on groceries:

• American Express® Gold Card (4 points per dollar on up to $25,000 spent at US supermarkets per year, then 1 point per dollar)
• Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express (6% cash back on up to $6,000 spent at US supermarkets per year, then 1% cash back)
• Chase Freedom® (5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent in combined purchases each quarter on rotating bonus categories — and this quarter the categories are grocery stores and fitness clubs)

Here are some of the best credit cards for earning bonus rewards on food delivery:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (5x points on delivery with DoorDash at Tock through May, 2x points on all other dining)
• Chase Sapphire Reserve® (5x points on delivery with DoorDash at Tock through May, 3x points on all other dining)
• American Express® Gold Card (4x points at restaurants worldwide, including most delivery services)

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• American Express, Bank of America, and other credit card issuers are offering relief for customers who have been financially affected by the coronavirus. If you need to defer your payments, contact your bank to discuss your options.
• Paying down credit card debt should remain a top priority, so you can avoid high APRs as much as possible. 
• If you're financially stable and not sure which credit card to use during the travel ban, consider a cash-back card or a card that earns bonus points on groceries or food delivery.
• Across the board, communication is key — if you need any financial assistance, work with your lender so you're on the same page. This will protect your credit score against negative marks for late payments.
• See Business Insider's list of the best credit cards with introductory APR offers.

It's hard to overstate the economic impact of COVID-19. More than 30 million Americans have applied for unemployment since the coronavirus pandemic began, and it's estimated that 14 million more have not been able to file for benefits yet. 

If you've been financially affected by the current crisis, you likely have questions about what relief you can expect from lenders, what the current situation means for your credit score, and whether you should even keep your current credit cards. We have answers to top questions about COVID-19 and credit cards below.

See Business Insider's FAQ on coronavirus stimulus checks for more information on what the pandemic means for your finances.

What if I lost my job?

American Express, Bank of America, and virtually every other credit card issuer is offering a relief program to customers who have been financially impacted by the coronavirus.

The exact policies vary depending on the bank, and you may be able to arrange additional relief options beyond what's been published if you contact the issuer and explain your situation.

Here's a brief overview of the kind of financial assistance you can expect from the major banks:

• American Express: Customers can contact the bank to discuss lower monthly payments, lower interest rates, and waived late fees. 
• Bank of America: You can request a payment deferral for your account online.
• Barclays: The issuer is allowing cardholders to skip the minimum payment due on their next two payment dates when they submit a request online. 
• Capital One: Cardholders who can't make their monthly payments should contact the issuer to discuss their options.
• Chase: Cardholders can request to delay three credit card payments via an online form.
• Citi: Citi customers can request waived late fees and waived minimum credit card payments via an online form.
• Discover: The issuer hasn't published any details of its relief options, but customers should contact Discover to discuss the possibility of deferred payments and more.
• Synchrony Bank: Synchrony Bank, which issues many popular store credit cards, hasn't published specific relief options, but customers who need assistance should call the number on the back of their card.
• US Bank: According to USA Today, the bank is offering assistance including waived credit card fees and the ability to skip payments, though the issuer hasn't published specific details. Contact the bank to discuss your options.
• Wells Fargo: Customers can contact Wells Fargo to discuss options including fee waivers and payment deferrals. 

Should I cancel my credit card?

Ultimately, the decision to keep or cancel your card comes down to personal preference. If you can comfortably pay the annual fee, it could be worth it to keep a travel credit card open and continue earning bonus rewards. If you have several credit cards with annual fees, on the other hand, now could be the time to see where you can downsize.

If you do decide to cut back on annual fees, consider downgrading your credit card to a no-annual-fee card instead of canceling it, so you can maintain your credit line. If you cancel a credit card instead of downgrading it, your total credit limit will decrease, which will in turn increase your credit utilization. The lower your credit utilization the better, and this factor accounts for 30% of your credit score.

Why did my bank lower my credit line?

Banks are allowed to lower your credit card's limit without warning, and with the current economic crisis leading lenders to limit risk, some cardholders are seeing their credit lines clawed back, even if they're reliable borrowers. 

Your credit limit doesn't just determine how much you can spend on a given card; it also factors into your credit score. Your credit utilization accounts for 30% of your score, with a lower utilization rate corresponding to a higher credit score. If your credit limit decreases, your utilization rate will increase. 

If your credit limit decreases, you can contact your bank to ask why, and to request that the original limit be reinstated. If the bank won't budge, you could consider opening a new credit card to offset the damage to your score. Don't open a new card if you aren't in a position to use it responsibly, but if you can pay off your statement balance in full each month, it could be a good opportunity to start working toward a sign-up bonus of points, miles, or cash back. 

How can I protect my credit score?

Your credit score is the number lenders look at when you apply for a credit card, a mortgage, or any other type of loan. The higher your score, the more likely you are to get approved for a loan, and to get the most favorable interest rates. 

One of the biggest factors that makes up your credit score is payment history (along with credit utilization), so if you need to skip any credit card payments, it's essential to contact the lender so you're on the same page — this way, the bank won't report any late payments to the credit bureaus. 

To protect your credit score, you'll also want to keep a close eye on your credit reports and monitor for any mistakes. The three major credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion— are currently letting consumers check their credit report for free each week for a year. Access your free reports at AnnualCreditReport.com. If anything on your report looks incorrect, you'll want to file a dispute.

What do I do about credit card debt? 

If you have credit card debt, reach out to the lending bank so you can work together on a payment plan. Paying off your credit card debt should be your top priority, because credit card debt entails high APRs and you'll want to minimize your interest fees as much as possible. Credit cards with introductory APR periods could help you consolidate and pay down debt while avoiding interest, but it may be challenging to get approved for one of these cards right now, as lenders tighten up their approval standards.

Keep in mind that if you lost your job due to the coronavirus pandemic, you may be able to pause payments on bills, including utilities, student loan payments, and insurance payments. The key is to reach out to the service provider to discuss your options; don't just assume you can pause your payments for the time being.

Should I cancel my travel rewards credit card now?

Given the current travel ban, it might feel difficult to justify paying the annual fee for your travel rewards credit card right now. Not only can you not take advantage of perks like airport lounge access, but it's unclear when we'll all be able to travel again — and in most cases it's not worth booking future trips during this uncertain period.

If you have a premium card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, paying $550 per year might be especially hard to swallow. Chase is giving Sapphire Reserve cardholders a $100 statement credit toward the annual fee, which may or may not sway you to keep that card open. Additionally, several Chase credit cards are now offering 5x rewards on food delivery through DoorDash and Tock through the end of May.

Ultimately, it really comes down to personal preference. If you can comfortably pay the annual fee, it could be worth it to keep your travel credit card open and continue earning bonus rewards on groceries and food delivery.

If you have several credit cards with annual fees, on the other hand, now could be the time to see where you can downsize. If you do decide to cut back on annual fees, consider downgrading your credit card to a no-annual-fee card instead of canceling it, so you can maintain your credit line and avoid dinging your credit score.

Which credit card should I use?

With travel on hold for the time being, now could be a great time to open a cash-back credit card. Consider options like the Citi® Double Cash Card, the Chase Freedom Unlimited®, and the Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card if you want to maximize the return on your everyday purchases.

That's not to say you shouldn't continue to earn rewards points as well. If you already have a rewards credit card, you may be able to rack up lots of points or miles on grocery and food delivery purchases.

Here are some of the best credit cards for earning bonus rewards on groceries:

• American Express® Gold Card (4 points per dollar on up to $25,000 spent at US supermarkets per year, then 1 point per dollar)
• Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express (6% cash back on up to $6,000 spent at US supermarkets per year, then 1% cash back)
• Chase Freedom® (5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent in combined purchases each quarter on rotating bonus categories — and this quarter the categories are grocery stores and fitness clubs)

Here are some of the best credit cards for earning bonus rewards on food delivery:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (5x points on delivery with DoorDash at Tock through May, 2x points on all other dining)
• Chase Sapphire Reserve® (5x points on delivery with DoorDash at Tock through May, 3x points on all other dining)
• American Express® Gold Card (4x points at restaurants worldwide, including most delivery services)

Join the conversation about this story »

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Here are the best online banks right now:

Many of us grew up making the journey to a brick-and-mortar bank to hand a paper check to a teller — but this isn't necessarily the norm anymore. Thanks to online banks, you can now bank without leaving your home.

Online banks offer more than just convenience. Because they don't have to pay for physical branch locations, online banks typically pay higher interest rates and charge fewer fees.

A good online bank should make it easy to navigate its website and mobile app. It should also provide high-quality customer service with live agents, since you don't have the ability to visit a branch and speak with someone face-to-face. Above all else, an online bank should be FDIC insured, just like a brick-and-mortar bank.

Below, you'll find our best online bank picks right now. We know "best" means something different for everyone, so we've listed each bank's strengths, as well as its limitations.

Keep reading to learn more about our top picks:

Axos Bank Rewards Checking

Why it stands out: Axos offers five different checking accounts, all geared toward specific needs: 

• Essential Checking (get paid two days early)
• Rewards Checking (earn a high APY)
• CashBack Checking (earn up to 1% cash back on purchases)
• Golden Checking (age 55+)
• First Checking (ages 13-17)

You can also open a savings account with a competitive rate, and both checking and savings accounts come with a debit card. Axos doesn't charge monthly maintenance fees.

Customer service is definitely one of Axos' strongest features — speak with a live representative 24/7 on the phone, online, or through the app.

What to look out for: Initial deposit. You'll need at least $250 to open a high-yield savings account.

There are also several requirements to earn the full 1.25% APY with an Axos Rewards Checking account. You'll earn 0.4166% for $1,000 in monthly direct deposits, another 0.4166% for using your debit card 10 times per month, and another 0.4116% for using the card a total of 15 times in a month.

Capital One 360

Why it stands out: Capital One 360 Checking ranks as our top checking account overall. It doesn't charge any overdraft, foreign transaction, or monthly service fees, and Capital One ranks No. 4 on J.D. Power's US National Banking Satisfaction Study.

Capital One's mobile app has received positive reviews. You can do things you might not be able to do with competing banking apps, such as lock your debit card and receive a free credit report.

Capital One 360 doesn't require initial deposits for any of its accounts. Although Capital One 360 is Capital One's online operation, you have the benefit of speaking with someone face-to-face if you live near a branch location or Capital One Café.

What to look out for: No out-of-network ATM fee reimbursements. You can use your debit card at over 39,000 ATMs nationwide for free, but unlike many online banks, Capital One doesn't reimburse any fees charged by out-of-network ATM providers.

Discover

Why it stands out: Discover is a good option for people who want to do all their banking, investing, and borrowing with one institution. It offers a wide range of products, including credit cards. Its debit card offers 1% cash back on up to $3,000 of purchases per month.

Although Discover doesn't reimburse out-of-network fees, its network includes more fee-free ATMs than most competitors — over 60,000.

What to look out for: Minimum deposits. While you don't need to place an initial deposit for a checking account, you'll need at least $2,500 to open a savings account, money market account, or CD.

Ally

Why it stands out: Ally ranks as our top high-yield savings account and top savings account overall. This bank has been a power player in the high-yield savings space for a few years now, and it consistently nabs top awards for online banking. Its mobile app has features many banking apps lack, such as mobile check deposit and an in-network ATM locator.

Ally is known for paying competitive rates and not requiring initial deposits for any of its accounts. It also has solid customer service, which you can reach 24/7 over the phone or via live chat.

What to look out for: Wide range of CD types. Ally offers 11 CD options total, so if you plan to open a CD with this bank, be careful to select the one that's the best fit for your needs.

Alliant Credit Union

Why it stands out: Like Capital One, Alliant has separate checking and savings accounts for minors. These pay relatively high interest rates and allow parents to have joint ownership, which provides a balance of children's independence and parental control.

Alliant offers an impressive 80,000 ATMs nationwide, and it reimburses up to $20 per month for out-of-network ATM fees.

What to look out for: Minimum account balance. To earn interest, you must keep a daily average of $100 in your savings account throughout the month. However, Alliant checking accounts don't call for a minimum balance.

Other online banks we considered and why they didn't make the cut:

• Simple: This is a good online bank with a built-in budgeting feature, but you must have a Simple checking account before opening a savings account — so you can't earn a high APY unless you have both accounts.
• American Express: American Express pays a competitive APY on savings account balances, but the bank doesn't offer a checking account.
• Barclays: Like American Express, Barclays offers solid rates but doesn't provide a checking account.
• Radius Bank: This online bank offers a wide range of account types, but rates are low and minimum account balances are high.
• Bank5 Connect: You'll earn some interest on your Bank5 Connect checking account balance, but its savings account rate isn't as high as our top picks' APYs.
• CIBC Bank: This online bank offers a variety of checking and savings accounts, but most require a minimum opening deposit or charge a fee if your balance falls below a certain amount.
• Salem 5 Direct: This is a solid online bank, but its rates aren't quite as competitive as what you'll find at our top picks.
• HSBC Direct: HSBC Direct pays competitive rates, but its mobile app has received negative reviews in the Apple and Google Play stores.
• Marcus by Goldman Sachs: Even though Marcus by Goldman Sachs is a respectable online bank, it doesn't offer a checking account.
• E*TRADE Bank: This online bank pays low rates on savings and checking accounts.
• Quontic Bank: You have plenty of bank account options to choose from with Quontic Bank, but it makes you jump through some hoops to earn interest on its high-yield savings account.
• TIAA Bank: TIAA Bank offers respectable rates, but its checking and savings account rates drop a bit after the first year.
• Vio Bank: This online bank pays one of the highest savings rates in the industry (which is always subject to change), but it doesn't offer a checking account.
• Chime: Chime's app is beloved, and it doesn't charge foreign transaction fees; however, its savings account rate is low and its checking account rate is nonexistent.
• CIT Bank: This is a solid online bank, but you'll need between $100 and $1,000 to open bank accounts, and it doesn't provide 24/7 live customer service over the phone like Ally does.
• Synchrony: This online bank pays a competitive rate with no minimum balance on savings accounts, but you can't open a checking account. 
• NBKC Bank: You'll earn a good rate on your checking account balance, but rather than offering a regular savings account, NBKC bank only has a money market account.
• Varo: Varo offers very competitive rates, but it charges a $2.50 fee for using out-of-network ATMs.
• FNBO Direct: This is a respectable online account, but its savings account rate isn't as high as what you'll find with our top choices.
• MemoryBank: This online bank only offers checking and money market accounts, and you'll pay a $15 fee if your checking account balance falls below $1,000.
• Brio Direct: You'll find competitive savings rates at Brio Direct, but you can't open a checking account with this online bank.
• USAA Bank: This could be a good online bank for military members and families, and new recruits can get paid a day early; however, USAA's rates are low.
• Charles Schwab: Charles Schwab provides unlimited out-of-network ATM fee reimbursements and doesn't charge foreign transaction fees, but its rates are low.

Frequently asked questions:

Why trust our recommendations?

Personal Finance Insider's mission is to help smart people make the best decisions with their money. We understand that "best" is often subjective, so in addition to highlighting the clear benefits of a financial product or account — a high APY, for example — we outline the limitations, too. We spent hours comparing and contrasting the features and fine print of various products so you don't have to.

How did we choose the best online banks?

There are a lot of online banks out there. Through our research, we've found that the best online banks offer a wide range of products, high bank account rates, low fees, and effective customer service. 

While interest rates are an important aspect of any online bank account, several offer the same annual percentage yields (APYs). To differentiate between them, we also considered minimum deposit and balance requirements, fees, ATM access and fee reimbursement, mobile apps, and other standout features. We also took customer service into account, because with an online bank, you don't have the option of walking into a branch to speak with a representative.

We reviewed over two dozen institutions to identify the strongest options. We also cross-referenced our list against popular comparison sites like Bankrate and NerdWallet to make sure we didn't miss a thing. 

What is an online bank?

Many brick-and-mortar banks allow you to bank online — but an online bank has you bank primarily or exclusively online. Some online banks do have a couple physical locations, but they still operate digitally for the most part.

Why choose an online bank over a brick-and-mortar bank?

There are a few downsides to choosing an online bank over a brick-and-mortar bank. For example, you may miss being able to speak with a banker face-to-face. And if you need to deposit cash regularly, you're out of luck with an online bank.

However, because online banks don't have to pay for physical branch locations, they typically pay higher rates and charge fewer fees. This means you can earn more and spend less with your bank.

• More savings and retirement coverage
• How to retire early
• The best high-yield savings accounts right now
• The banks with the best CD rates
• When to save money in high-yield savings
• Here are the best money market accounts right now
• The best checking accounts

Join the conversation about this story »

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