Banking giant Barclays will be fined £50 million for failures in disclosing arrangements with Qatari entities when it raised funds amid the 2008 financial crisis, the Financial Conduct Authority has said.
The Financial Conduct Authority said it will issue the fine to Barclays in relation to failure to disclose arrangements with Qatari entities between June 25 and October 31 in 2008.
The financial watchdog described Barclays conduct during an October fundraising as “reckless” and said it “lacked integrity”.
Barclays has referred the decision to the FCA’s Upper Tribunal, which will decide whether the fine should be upheld.
Barclays
Tim Goode
Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “At the height of the financial crisis in October 2008, Barclays paid hundreds of millions of pounds in fees to certain Qatari investors so that they would contribute new capital.
“Barclays did not inform the market and shareholders about these matters as required.
“Barclays’ failure to disclose these matters was reckless and lacked integrity and followed an earlier failure to disclose fees paid to Qatari investors in June 2008.
“There was no legitimate reason or excuse for failing to disclose these matters, certainly no basis for doing so because of the financial crisis.”
A Barclays spokeswoman said: “Barclays has referred the findings of the regulatory decisions committee to the upper tribunal for reconsideration.”