Barclays challenges 50m fine.

During the financial crisis, Barclays is challenging a £50mn fine from UK regulators over the bank’s allegedly «reckless» failure «to disclose certain arrangements» about Qatari fundraising 14 years ago. Mark Steward, head of enforcement at the Financial Conduct Authority, said yesterday that Barclays had failed to make appropriate disclosures about paying «hundreds of millions of pounds in fees to certain Qatari investors so that they would contribute new capital». Barclays, which has faced several legal cases over the Qatar fundraisings, is contesting the FCA’s decision at the regulator’s upper tribunal. The latest decision is another setback for Barclays, which has spent millions of pounds on legal fees for court battles and fines relating to its fundraising.

Barclays raised more than £11bn in emergency cash from investors during the 2008 financial crisis, helping the bank to avoid a government bailout. At the heart of the issue was whether Barclays received services for the £322mn in fees it paid Qatar or if it was an extra payment related to the share transactions hidden from the market and other investors. A $3bn loan from Barclays to the state of Qatar in November 2008 also questioned whether it was an inducement to the Qataris to invest. In 2017, the Serious Fraud Office accused Barclays and four former senior executives of conspiracy to defraud and false representation, which became the first criminal charges in the UK filed against a bank and its former bosses.

She claimed she lost out on fees because Barclays gave side payments to Qatar in the cash call. Staveley invested £3.5bn in Barclays on behalf of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family, through her PCP Capital Partners, for a £30mn fee. She claims Barclays told her repeatedly that she would be given the same terms as the Qatar sovereign wealth fund.

www.sba.tax

Comments

Cloud Bookkeeping

US FED rate rise.

The US Federal Reserve officials have indicated that they plan to resume increasing interest rates to control inflation in the world's biggest economy. During the June meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee reached a consensus to keep interest rates stable for the time being to evaluate whether further tightening of policy would be necessary. However, the majority of the committee anticipates that additional rate increases will be required in the future. The minutes of the meeting have recently been made public. According to the minutes, most participants believed maintaining the federal funds rate at 5 to 5.25 per cent was appropriate or acceptable, despite some individuals wanting to raise the acceleration due to slow progress in cooling inflation. Although Fed forecasts predicted a mild recession starting later in the year, policymakers faced challenges in interpreting data that showed a tight job market and only slight improvements in inflation. Additionally, officials gr...

EU business slide.

S&P Global’s flash eurozone composite purchasing managers’ index, a key gauge of business conditions for the manufacturing and services sector, fell 1 point to 47.1, figures showed yesterday. That is its lowest level since November 2020 and the fourth consecutive month below the crucial 50 mark separating growth from contraction. One of the few bright spots in the survey was that companies in all sectors reported a slight easing of cost pressures, price growth and supply chain constraints. However, prices charged for goods and services still rose at the sixth fastest rate since such data started in 2002. Jobs growth increased marginally from October but remained low compared with the past 18 months. Following a few months of falling price pressure in manufacturing and services, the October print shows an overall stabilisation said Jens Eisenschmidt, chief European economist at Morgan Stanley. However, German businesses, at the hub of Europe’s energy crisis, reported that manu...

EU debt reduction

Brussels wants to give EU capitals extra time to curb their debts and create space for public investment as part of an overhaul of the EU’s deficit rules . The European Commission would table a proposal at the end of the month to reform the Stability and Growth Pact , under which it would work out multi-year , country-specific plans with capitals for getting their debt burdens under control , EU officials said . The proposals come as member states face mounting fiscal burdens as they spend hundreds of billions of euros sheltering businesses and households from the energy crisis . Under the new blueprint , the commission would propose a four- or five-year plan to an EU member state to get its public debt burden on a credible , downward trajectory , officials said . The national fiscal plan would need to pass a debt sustainability analysis and be approved by the commission and EU council . The new regime would ditch an EU ...

Search This Blog