Barclays Grapples With Multiplying Number Of Probes

Bloomberg reports that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether the lender made payments that violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to win a banking license for its wealth-management unit in Saudi Arabia, the Financial Times reported on Nov. 9, citing unidentified people familiar with the talks. The bank is already being probed by the Serious Fraud Office over fees it paid in 2009 to Qatar’s sovereign-wealth fund as the lender sought money to avoid a government bailout.

For Jenkins, who replace Bob Diamond after the lender paid a record fine for manipulating Libor, the probes are likely to be a bigger setback to his efforts to show politicians the bank can put regulatory missteps behind it than the size of any fines, according to analysts. He may have to include stiffer internal controls to detect staff who break laws in pursuit of revenue when he announces the results of his review of Barclays’s operations in February, said Christopher Wheeler, a London-based banking analyst at Mediobanca SpA.

'Jenkins has to continue to batten down the hatches, say these issues came out of the pre-crisis period and say he can create an atmosphere where it doesn’t happen again', said Wheeler, who rates the shares an outperform. 'The more that comes out, the more he can wave the big stick in February'.

Hit the link below to access the complete Bloomberg article:

Barclays Saudi Investigation Adds to Jenkins’s Regulatory Woes

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