Member Article

Barclays Bank fined £38 million for putting £16.5 billion clients’ assets at risk

London-headquarted Barclays Bank Plc has been fined £37.745 million by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for failing to properly protect clients’ custody assets worth £16.5 billion.

As a result clients risked incurring extra costs, lengthy delays or losing their assets if Barclays had become insolvent.

This is the highest fine ever imposed by the FCA for client assets breaches, reflecting ‘significant weaknesses’ in the systems and controls in Barclays’ Investment Banking Division between November 2007 and January 2012 and the number of affected accounts.

Barclays said it did not profit from the issue and no customers lost out.

The fine relates to activities in the bank’s investment division, and will have no impact on Barclay’s retail customers.

The FSA said Barclays received a 30% discount on the fine as it agreed to settle at an early stage.

David Lawton, FCA director of markets, said:“ Safeguarding client assets is key to maintaining market confidence if firms fail - Barclays lack of focus on the rules was unacceptable. Our on-going scrutiny of firms’ compliance reflects the importance of the regime, which protects custody assets worth £10 trillion held in the UK.“

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .