Barclays fined £40m after failing to disclose Qatar deal

Barclays will pay a fine of £40m for "reckless" failures to disclose a fundraising deal with Qatar at the height of the financial crisis, after the British bank agreed to withdraw a legal challenge against it.

- Jasper Jolly

The FTSE 100 bank in effect won a discount of £10m by challenging the fine, but was found by the regulator to have committed serious misconduct.

Barclays withdrew an appeal shortly before it was due to be heard yesterday by the upper tribunal, a court in London - although it said it still disputed the findings.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) first imposed a £50m fine in 2022 after a long examination of the hurried deals struck as the British banking system teetered on the edge of collapse during the financial crisis of 2008.

The UK government was forced to bail out Lloyds Banking Group and the former Royal Bank of Scotland, now known as NatWest Group, to prevent the crisis escalating further.

Barclays narrowly avoided UK government intervention thanks to the deal with the Qatari state, as part of efforts in June and October 2008 to raise £11.8bn. The Qatar Investment Authority still owns 2.9% of Barclays.