Barclays

Barclays plc is a major global financial services company. In 2008 it was ranked as the 25th largest company in the world according to Forbes Global 2000. On Fortune Global 500, it ranked 103 in 2006, 83 in 2007, 70 in 2008, and 83 in 2009.

Structure

Barclays PLC is a holding company - it operates through its subsidiary Barclays Bank PLC. Its investment banking division is called Barclays Capital.

Controversies and conflicts of interest

Use of tax havens and aggressive tax avoidance schemes

In 2011 Barclays came under intense scrutiny from politicians over its tax affairs and prolific use of tax havens. Chuka Umunna, the shadow business secretary forced Barclays to reveal in January that it had paid just £113 million of UK corporate tax in 2009, a year in which it paid £3.4 billion in bonuses, and operated more than 300 subsidiaries in tax havens worldwide, particularly in the Cayman Islands.

As a result, Barclays committed itself to committed to closing down "a significant number of Cayman companies during 2011". According to The Telegraph, filings made alongside Barclays' annual report show that in early 2012 it was in the process of liquidating 49 of those 181 Cayman subsidiaries, which would leave it with 132. The newspaper pointed out this would still leave it far ahead of other banks such as RBS and Lloyds, with 37 and 24 companies based in the Caymans respectively.

Barclays also suffered embarrassment when in early 2012, HM Revenue & Customs closed down two of its tax avoidance schemes and, "in a highly unusual move, clawed back the revenues from one of them. HMRC claimed that it recovered £500 million of tax through the actions. The Telegraph described this as 'particularly awkward for Barclays because it has signed the Banking Code of Practice on Taxation, which encourages lenders to follow the spirit as well as the letter of the law. It also followed a pledge made last year by chief executive Bob Diamond for Barclays, and all banks, to win back public trust by becoming "better citizens"."

Libor-fixing scandal

In June 2012, Barclays was fined a record £290 million for attempting to manipulate the London inter-bank lending rate (Libor), one of the most crucial interest rates in finance, between 2005 and 2009. According to the Telegraph, investigators from the FSA and the US Commodity Futures and Trading Commission found evidence that Barclays had tried to manipulate Libor for several years in the run up to the financial crisis and in its aftermath. "As early as 2005 there was evidence Barclays had tried to manipulate dollar Libor and Euribor (the eurozone's equivalent of Libor) rates at the request of its derivatives traders and other banks."

During the three-year investigation into claims that Barclays and other banks attempted to inflate and suppress Libor, emails uncovered to show the extent of the scandal. "In one message sent to a Barclays employee involved in the bank’s Libor submission, a trader asked for the rate to be set “as high as possible today”, to which the unnamed staff member replied “sure”."

On 27 June 2012, Barclays admitted to misconduct. The "FSA imposed a £59.5 million penalty. The US Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) imposed fines worth £102 million and £128 million respectively, forcing Barclays to pay a total of around £290 million."

The scandal forced both Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond and chairman Marcus Agius to resign. Agius was later replaced by David Walker.

MPs on the payroll

• Francis Maude MP, shadow Cabinet Office minister (Conservative), was a paid Member of Barclays’ Asia-Pacific Advisory Committee in 2009.

PR and lobbying

Internal

• Matt Hammerstein - MD public policy; corporate comms; strategy and planning; and brand and marketing
• Stephen Doherty - takes up the newly created role of MD, head of corporate comms across the bank's global business from July 2012. Doherty has been Diageo's director of comms since 2007. A source told PR Week that the appointment was a reflection of the bank’s desire to ‘get a grip on the narrative’ and provide a more robust voice in the high-profile regulatory and media debates around the global financial services industry. He will work alongside the bank's vice chairman, corporate affairs, Howell James, and will report to Matt Hammerstein.
• Howell James, vice-chairman corporate affairs director, appointed summer 2008. The previous four years James was the Cabinet Office's permanent secretary for government communications, responsible for the ‘strategy, co-ordination and effectiveness’ of communications across Whitehall. He was political secretary to former Conservative prime minister John Major.
• Alistair Smith, Head of media relations
• Jane Atkin, Corporate comms director
• Christine Farnish, Sustainability and public policy director

External

• In February 2012 Barclays reviewed its UK public affairs contract, with Weber Shandwick and Cicero Consulting pitching for the main PA account. In April PR News announced that Cicero had won the brief to handle all UK lobbying. In May 2012 Barclays was reportedly on the hunt for an EU-level public affairs agency, against the backdrop of banks facing increasing pressure from proposed EU legislation such as the potential financial transaction tax. Fleishman-Hillard currently handles the account for Barclays investment banking public affairs, and was repitching for the new consolidated account. A Barclays spokesman told PR Week: 'Barclays recently consolidated its UK agencies. We're doing the same for Barclays in Europe.'

• Andrew Garfield of Brunswick advises Barclays on public relations.
• Weber Shandwick Public Affairs, previously handled Barclays' public affairs. Held the account for about 10 years, led by Jon McLeod according to PR Week.
• Blue Rubicon, has also previously handled Barclays' public affairs.
• Cicero Consulting handles Barclays Capital's public affairs as well as public affairs for Barclays Group
• Finsbury lists Barclays Capital as a client.

Revolving door

• Thomas David Guy Arculus, an independent non-executive Director from 1997 to 2006, was a member of the UK Government’s Better Regulation Task Force within the Cabinet Office from 2002 to 2005.
• Sir Richard Broadbent, the former Chairman of HM Customs & Excise, has been a Senior Independent Director at Barclays plc since 2003. He is Chairman of transport services company Arriva PLC.
• Mark Clarke, currently Director-General of Finance at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, worked at Barclays from 2000 to 2003.
• Sarah Cox of the Cabinet Office’s Business Support Group worked at Barclays plc from 2001 to 2004.
• James Duddridge, Conservative MP for Rochford and Southend East since 2005 worked at Barclays Bank 1993–2002.
• U.K. Life Peer Robert Fellowes, Lord Fellowes of Shotesham, was Chairman of Barclays Private Bank from 2000 until December 2009.
• U.K. Life Peer Digby Jones, Lord Jones of Birmingham, who was Minister of State for UK Trade and Investment from 2007 to 2008, was a Senior Advisor to Barclays Capital from 2006 to 2007.
• Sir Andrew Likierman, an independent non-executive Director since September 2004, was a Non-executive Director of the Bank of England and was Chief Accountancy Advisor at HM Treasury from 1993 to 2003.
• Francis Maude, Conservative MP for Horsham, is a member of Barclays Asia-Pacific Advisory Committee.
• Jami Miscik, who became Global Head of Sovereign Risk at Barclays Capital after it bought Lehman Brothers, was Deputy Director of Intelligence at the CIA from 2002 to 2005.
• Sir Anthony Reeve, Ambassador to South Africa 1991-96, was Director Barclays Private Bank Ltd, 1997–2001.
• Barclays Bank plc employee Howard Spiers was seconded to the Department for Trade and Industry from 1998 to 2001 as an export promoter.
• Robert K. Steel, a Non Executive Director of Barclays Bank plc from 2005 to 2006, was Under Secretary, Domestic Finance, U.S. Department of the Treasury from 2006 to 2008.
• Sir David Wright, a former British diplomat and Group Chief Executive at British Trade International, became Vice-Chairman of Barclays Capital in 2003.

CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Ventures (early 00's)

"Barclays is a leader in corporate citizenship and community involvement. Community support in 2001 totalled £31.1 million. ... In education, Barclays New Futures is an eight-year, £8 million programme providing opportunities for students to develop life, work and citizenship skills through partnership projects between schools and the community."

"Barclays New Futures is an eight year, 8 million programme providing opportunities for students to develop life, work and citizenship skills through partnership projects between schools and the community."

"In 2001, we launched a new two-year £1.9 million sponsorship programme ‘Invest and Inspire’ to promote accessibility to the arts. We are supporting major exhibitions at the British Museum, the National Gallery and Tate Britain, as well as all the productions at the Royal National Theatre’s Olivier Theatre."

"Barclays also supports its employees’ enthusiastic involvement in their local communities with a range of schemes. In 2001, more than 5,300 employees volunteered their time and talents. In addition, 5,600 employees organised fundraising activities and Barclays approved more than 7,400 applications for matched funding which helped raise £5.87 million."

"Barclays 1999 Environmental Review sets out the scale and scope of our practices and policies to protect the environment and conserve energy. The following is a brief summary of the Review. [...] Barclays Group Property Services has developed its own environment policy that is reviewed annually and amended to reflect technological advances, legislative developments and industry best practice. [...] We use substantial amount of paper and require suppliers to ensure that this and other raw materials are from ecologically managed sources. [...] Our branch network and head office buildings produce around 3,000 tonnes of waste paper that is recycled annually. Recycled waste paper from our Records offices totals some 4,500 tonnes each year. [...] We have some 6,000 vehicles in our fleet, all running on unleaded petrol or diesel. We do not provide free fuel for company car drivers. A cash alternative to a company car is available – around 1,300 employees have chosen this option."

People

Board members (February 2009)

• Marcus Agius Chairman from 1 Jan 2007 - 2012. He succeeded Matthew Barrett. Agius is the senior non-executive Director of the BBC and ex-Chairman of Lazard in London and a Deputy Chairman of Lazard LLC until 31 December 2006. Ex-Chairman of BAA PLC, a position he held from 2002 until 20 December 2006.
• Sir Nigel Rudd, Deputy Chairman (non-exec director)
• John Varley, Group Chief Executive: He was appointed as Group Chief Executive on 01 September 2004, prior to which he had been Group Deputy Chief Executive from 01 January 2004.
• Robert Diamond Jr, President, Barclays PLC and CEO of Corporate & Investment Banking and Wealth Management
• Chris Lucas, Group Finance Director
• Frits Seegers, Chief Executive, Global Retail and Commercial Banking
• David Booth, Non-Executive Director
• Sir Richard Broadbent, Senior Independent Director

Non Executive Directors (February 2009)

• Richard Leigh Clifford
• Fulvio Conti
• Dr Danie Cronjé
• Professor Dame Sandra Dawson
• Sir Andrew Likierman
• Sir Michael Rake
• Stephen Russell
• Sir John Sunderland
• Patience Wheatcroft

Early 90s Board of Directors

• Dr. David Atterton: Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, British Coal Corp., Rank Organisation
• Mary E. Baker: Avon Cosmetics, Holiday Care Service, MFI Furniture, Prudential Corporation
• David Band: BZW
• Sir Timothy H. Bevan: Foriegn & Colonial Management
• Sir J. D. Birkin: RTZ, Carlton Communications, CRA (Australia), Merchants Trust
• Andrew Buxton: British Invisibles, Smithkline Beecham Plc
• The Right Honourable Lord Camoys: BZW, The Administrative Staff College Ltd., Barclays Development Capital, British International Rowing Fund Ltd., Greenhill & Co. Ltd., National Provident Institution Ltd., 3i Group Plc
• Sir Micheal Franklin: Agricultural Mortgage Corp. Plc, Whessoc Plc, Whitbread
• Sir Denys Henderson: ICI, RTZ
• Sir Martin Jacomb: Postel Investment, Bank Of England, British Council, Commercial Union, Marks & Spencers, RTZ, The Telegraph
• The Right Honourable Nigel Lawson: Central Europe Trust Co., Creditanstalt Bankrevein, GPA Group
• Sir Gerald Mobbs: Aims of Industry, Allnat London Properties, Anglo French Industrial Development, Anglo German Industrial Development, Barclays (Canada), British Council for Offices, Buckinghamshire Historic Buildings Trust, Charterhouse Holdings, Cooksan Group, Corporate Health Ltd., Gauntlet Developments, Groundwork Foundation, Guildhall Property Co. Plc, Howard de Walden Estates, Kingfisher, Lotapel SA, Mezzanine Capital Corp., Mobbs Memorial Trust, NV Slough Properties, Pentagon Developments, Royal Artillary Museums Ltd., SDK Inc. USA, Slough Developments / Electricity Supplies / Estates Administration / Estates Design & Construction / Finance / Overseas / Management / Parks Inc. USA / Social fund / Trading Co. / Trading Estates, Tishman Holdings
• Jan Peelen: Unilever
• Sir James Spooner: John Swire & Sons, BT Staff Superanuation Scheme, Glanmoor Investments Ltd., Hemming Publishing, The Housing Finance Corp., J.Sainsbury Plc, The Morgan Crucible Co. Plc, The Royal Opera House Covent Garden Ltd.
• Sir Peter Middleton: BZW, Bass Plc, General Accident Fire & Life Assurance Corp. Plc, English Chamber Orchestra, The Institute of Contemporary British History
• Sir Patrick Wright: De La Rue Plc, British Petroleum Plc

Affiliations

• British Council, corporate partner
• American Chamber of Commerce EU Committee Website
• Business in the Community Website
• Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation Website
• Conference Board Website
• Industry and Parliament Trust
• Royal Institute of International Affairs Website

Contact

Website:

http://www.barclays.co.uk

This article is part of the Finance Lobbying project of Spinwatch

This article is part of the Revolving Door project of Spinwatch.

Resources

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