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| Barclays Logo | |
| Company type | Public (LSE: BARC, NYSE: BCS, TYO: 8642) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Banking |
| Founded | 1896 |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
Key people | Marcus Agius, Chairman John Varley, Chief Executive |
| Products | Banking Investment banking Investment management |
| Revenue |  £22,170 million GBP (2006) |
| £7,136 million GBP (2006) | |
| £4,571 million GBP (2006) | |
Number of employees | 118,000 (2006) |
| Website | www.barclays.com |
Barclays plc (LSE: BARC, NYSE: BCS, TYO: 8642) is a global financial services provider operating in Europe, the United States, the Middle East, Latin America, Australia, Asia and Africa. It is a holding company that is listed in London and New York. It consists almost solely of Barclays Bank plc.
Barclays plc is the 4th largest financial services provider in the world by Tier 1 capital ($32.5 billion), and the 28th largest in the world by Market capitalization ($71.6 billion).[citation needed] It is the third largest bank in the United Kingdom based on assets.[1]
The bank's headquarters are at One Churchill PlaceinCanary Wharf, in London's Docklands, having moved there in May 2005 from Lombard Street in the City of London. Barclays' U.S. headquarters are in New YorkonPark Avenue.
According to a March 20 joint press release[2][3], Barclays is negotiating a merger with ABN AMRO, the largest bank in the Netherlands, which is under pressure from hedge funds to consider a merger or asset sale to bolster its lagging share price[4]. As of 24 April, as $91 billion merger has now been agreed in principle, before shareholders approve the merger. It should be noted that the Royal Bank of Scotland is currently leading a $72 billion consortium counter-bid for ABN AMRO.
To help finance its bid for ABN AMRO, Barclay's could possibly sell a 7% stake to the Chinese government and a 3% stake to the investment arm of the Singaporean government.
This bank traces its roots back to 1685 in London. The name "Barclays" became associated with the business in 1736.[5]
Barclays is headed by Marcus Agius, the Group Chairman, who joined the Board on September 1, 2006 and succeeded Matthew Barrett as Chairman from January 1, 2007. Mr. Agius is also the senior executive Director of the BBC and was formerly Chairman of Lazard in London and a Deputy Chairman of Lazard LLC until December 31, 2006.
Reporting directly to the Group Chairman is John Varley, the Group Chief Executive who is responsible for the strategic direction and planning of all Barclays operations. John was appointed to the role on September 1, 2004 prior to which he served as Deputy Chief Executive (January-September 2004) and Group Finance Director (2000-2003). John is assisted by Clare Losty, his Executive Secretary.
The day to day management of the Barclays group is conducted by the Group Chief Operating Officer, Paul Idzik. Since joining Barclays in 1999 he had served as Chief Operating Officer of Barclays Capital prior to assuming his current position in November 2004. His career with Booz Allen Hamilton prior to joining Barclays established him as one of the leading management consultants for finance.
Naguib Kheraj is approaching the end of his tenure as Group Finance Director. He has served in this capacity since January 1, 2004 and leaves his post on March 31, 2007. He has previously served as Chief Executive of Barclays Private Clients, Deputy Chairman of Barclays Global Investors, Global Head of Investment Banking and Global Chief Operating Officer at Barclays Capital. He will be replaced by Chris Lucas who joins Barclays on April 1, 2007 from Price Waterhouse Cooper where he has been UK Head of Financial Services and Global Head of Banking and Capital Markets.
Chris will assume responsibility for most of Naguib's current responsibilities including; Group Treasurer, Group Property Director, Company Secretary, Barclays Tax Director, and the Group Risk Director. However, the Office of the General Counsel, headed by Mark Harding will now report directly to John Varley.
The operating units of Barclays are grouped under two umberellas; International Banking and Investment Banking (IB&IM) and Global Retail and Commercial Banking (GRCB). The former is headed by Robert E. Diamond, Jr. the President of Barclays plc. The latter is headed by Chief Executive of GRCB, Frits Seegers.
IB&IM oversees three core operating units; Barclays Capital, Barclays Global Investors and Barclays Wealth Management.
GRCB oversees multiple operating units. Principally it has responsibility for UK Retail Banking (UKRB), UK Business Banking (UKBB), Barclaycard and International Retail and Commercial Banking (IR&CB).
The IR&CB function was previously headed by David Roberts, who has now departed Barclays, before falling under the larger umberella of GR&CB. The core units of IR&CB are Barclays operations in South Africa (Absa), Western Europe (including Spain, Portugal, Italy and France) and emerging markets (such as Sub Saharan Africa, India, Egypt, North Africa, UAE and the Gulf states).
UK Banking and Barclaycard were formerly directed by Gary Hoffman in his role as Chairman but his sideways move into the role of Group Vice Chairman, responsible for franchise health and corporate responsibility, has seen Deanna Oppenheimer, Christopher Grigg and Antony Jenkins appointed as operating unit Chief Executive Officers. Peter Harvey, formerly the Chief Executive for UK Business Banking has recently moved sideways into the role of UK Banking Vice Chairman and in this role he supports both Deanna and Christopher (as well as Frits Seegers) in the implementation of the overall UK banking strategy.
Barclays has many UK high street branches. Barclays has also joined up with the Post Office Ltd to provide personal banking services to customers who live near a Post Office branch and those who need financial services such as secured or unsecured loans.
Most Barclays branches have 24/7 ATMs, colloquially known as Holes in the Wall. Barclays customers and customers of many other banks can use Barclays ATMs free of charge.
Barclays is a member of the Global ATM Alliance, a joint venture of several major international banks that allows customers of the banks to use their ATM card or cheque card at another bank within the Global ATM Alliance with no fees when traveling internationally. Other participating banks are:
From 2004 onwards, Barclays has sponsored the Premier League and, from 2006, the Churchill Cup.
Currently, a South African activist group, the Jubilee South Africa backed Khulumani Support Group, is seeking reparations from Barclays in addition to Citigroup, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Ford, GM, and Deutsche Bank for their roles indirectly supporting the apartheid governmentinSouth Africa during the 1970s and 1980s. The legal proceedings are being heard at the Second Circuit Court of AppealsinNew York, and the South African Ministry of Justice is seeking dismissal of the case on the grounds that it undermines its sovereignty.[7]
Seen by Barclays as a significant opportunity to accelerate their strategy to become a global bank the proposed combination with ABN-AMRO would combine advantages for both customers and shareholders. The intent at the heart of the merger is to preserve the strengths and values of both businesses.
A unitary board structure would be the method of corporate governance and the structure would see UK incorporation, an HQ in Amsterdam (although the offices at Canary Wharf would be retained for UK operations) and the UK Financial Services Authority as lead regulator.
A component part of ABN, LaSalle Bank is to be sold for $21 billion with competition for that arm of the business expected to develop before any combination with Barclays.
The proposed board structure would see 9 members from ABN-AMRO and 10 from Barclays with ABN chief Arthur Martinez assuming the role of Chairman and Barclays current chairman, Marcus Agius, becoming Deputy Chairman.
The proposed executive committee combines the strengths of both businesses and would be led by John Varley who would continue to serve as Group Chief Executive with Robert E. Diamond as Group President and CEO of Investment Management and International Banking.
Six other individuals would round out the proposed ExCo with three faces from the current Barclays ExCo and three from ABNs. From Barclays, Frits Seegers, Paul Idzik and Chris Lucas would continue in their roles as CEO for Global Retail & Commercial, Chief Operating Officer and Group Finance Director respectively.
They would be joined by Huibert Boumeester as Group Chief Administrative Officer (marking a split within the current Barclays COO function); Ron Teerlink who would assume the role of Chief Operating Officer for Global Retail & Commercial; and Piero Overmars who would become CEO for Continental Europe and Asia within the Global Retail & Commercial function.
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| Barclays |
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| HSBC Holdings |
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| Lloyds Banking Group |
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| NatWest Group1 |
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| Santander Group |
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| Wholly state-owned |
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