Barclays security head Oerting takes leave of absence -sources

LONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Troels Oerting, the head of cyber and information security at Britain's Barclays Plc (LSE: BARC.L - news) , has taken a leave of absence, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Oerting, a former Europol cybercrime expert, was not immediately available for comment but one source said his move was not related to an investigation into an attempt by Chief (Taiwan OTC: 3345.TWO - news) Executive Jes Staley to unmask a whistleblower at Barclays.

Oerting, who was appointed as Barclays' chief security officer and head of information security in January, had been asked by Staley to identify the author of an anonymous letter that made allegations about a senior banker.

Staley, who has apologised for his actions, and Barclays are being investigated by UK and U.S. regulators over the affair, which the bank's board heard about in early 2017.

Barclays has reprimanded Staley and said it would cut his bonus over the incident, but it has resisted calls to fire him for what Chairman John McFarlane has called an "honest" mistake.

Barclays' global head of whistleblowing Jonathan Cox left the bank last month after dropping an employment lawsuit over alleged whistleblowing rule breaches.

Oerting did not immediately respond to attempts to reach him via LinkedIn (Swiss: LNKD.SW - news) . (Reporting by Lawrence White and Kirstin Ridley; editing by Alexander Smith)