Office address: 745 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019
Website: www.barclays.co.uk
Year established: 1965
Company type: financial services
Employees: 11,500+ (US)
Expertise: mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, debt financing, equity financing, risk management, research, trading, restructuring, leveraged finance, industry coverage across sectors
Parent company: Barclays PLC
Key people: C.S. Venkatakrishnan (group CEO), Anna Cross (group finance director), Craig Bright (group co-COO), Stephen Dainton (president), Anne Marie Darling (group co-COO), Cathal Deasy and Taylor Wright (global co-heads of investment banking)
Financing status: corporation
Barclays is a global financial services firm with a strong US presence, especially in investment banking. The company offers mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, and trading services. Its investment banking division, Barclays Capital, focuses on advisory, financing, and trading for institutional clients.
Barclays set up its first US affiliate, Barclays Bank of California, in 1965 in San Francisco. The company’s roots, however, reach back to London in 1690, when John Freame and Thomas Gould ran a goldsmith banking business on Lombard Street.
By 1736, James Barclay joined the family, and the name became a fixture in British banking. Over time, small family-run banks struggled to compete, so in 1896, twenty of them joined forces to create Barclay and Company Limited.
Quaker families helped shape the firm, bringing business ties and a reputation for trust. By 1896, the merged bank had 182 branches and 806 staff. Continuing mergers made Barclays the third largest bank in Britain by 1920.
Under Frederick Craufurd Goodenough, the bank acquired Colonial Bank, Anglo-Egyptian Bank, and the National Bank of South Africa. In 1925, these were merged to form Barclays Bank (Dominion, Colonial and Overseas), which later became Barclays Bank International. At home, Barclays grew by acquiring Martins Bank in 1968 and by hiring more women, who outnumbered men on staff by 1962.
The company continued to evolve, acquiring The Woolwich in 2000 and Juniper Financial in 2004. The company also changed its structure, moving from local offices to regional and then centralized services.
In 1986, it launched its investment banking arm, which became Barclays Capital. This division expanded further in 2008 after acquiring parts of Lehman Brothers. In 2016, the firm focused its strategy on the UK and US, selling several international businesses and reducing its stake in Africa.
By 2018, the firm made its biggest structural changes in decades to meet new UK regulations. The company separated its UK retail and business bank from its international and investment bank.
Barclays Capital offers a broad range of investment banking and market solutions tailored to institutional and corporate clients:
Barclays Capital provides research and digital banking services as part of its global platform. The firm provides tailored solutions to support clients with risk management and financial objectives.
Barclays Capital states that its culture encourages people to be themselves and contribute in meaningful ways. The company also lists these values:
According to Barclays Capital, it aims to build a supportive, inclusive workplace where employees can bring their whole selves to work. Their benefits include:
Barclays Capital also describes valuing unique perspectives and skills, helping teams thrive together. The company shows a sense of belonging and community, encouraging every employee to feel recognized and included.
C.S. Venkatakrishnan is the group CEO of the firm, appointed in 2021. Before this, Venkatakrishnan led global markets and served as co-president of Barclays Bank PLC. Earlier, he worked at JPMorgan Chase in senior roles across asset management, investment banking, and risk.
Here are the key people leading Barclays, each bringing unique experience and focus to their roles:
The board creates Barclays’ strategy and the executive committee carries out those plans.
In 2024, Barclays Capital agreed to pay a $1.25 million fine after Finra found lapses in its fingerprinting and background checks for thousands of employees. The company is now updating its supervisory systems and has already fingerprinted nearly 1,800 staff to meet compliance rules. These changes help Barclays strengthen its internal controls, which support client trust and the firm’s long-term regulatory standing.
The company is also helping lead the surge in global mergers and acquisitions as the AI sector grows. The firm’s bankers are advising on some of the largest deals, such as Alphabet’s $32 billion purchase of Wiz. This activity positions it to support clients in major transactions and strengthens its advisory business for the future.
Unless an investor had held an investment for more than a decade, they lost money in last year’s market collapse, according to a study released today by Dalbar Inc.
Standard & Poor's of New York today revised upward its fund volatility ratings on 10 U.S. offshore and European fixed-income funds.
Pacific Investment Management Co. LLC recently unveiled its first global bond index.
Although financial advisers generally welcome new exchange traded funds that invest in municipal bonds, some industry experts question whether they are the best way to access such an opaque market.
Van Eck Global has launched a high-yield municipal bond exchange traded fund, the Market Vectors High-Yield Municipal Fund (HYD).
Despite the fact that 2008 saw a record 46 exchange traded funds close, the total number of ETFs actually increased year-over-year to 747, from 629, according to a report released today by State Street Global Advisors of Boston.
State Street Global Advisors today announced the launch of two new fixed-income exchange traded funds: the SPDR Barclays Capital Short Term International Treasury Bond ETF and the SPDR Barclays Capital Mortgage Backed Bond ETF.
Although most funds performed dismally last year, a Vanguard fund and its exchange traded fund share class bucked the trend with spectacular results, returning more than 50%.
Hedge funds suffered another body blow in December when, according to one index, the S&P 500 stock index outperformed the alternative class strategies.
IndyMac Bancorp Inc. is close to being sold to a consortium of private-equity and hedge fund firms in a deal that will be partially financed by the federal government, people involved with the deal told The New York Times.
A popular argument for using exchange traded funds is that investors receive more bang for their buck because ETFs are generally cheaper than mutual funds. In some cases, however, the bang is being muted because of the way ETF returns are reported.
In the current economic maelstrom, exchange traded funds are beating mutual funds in the fight for investor dollars — a battle that will have long-term implications for the asset management industry.
Choppy markets highlight the importance of owning dividend-paying investments that can smooth out volatility.
Barclays launched the iShares S&P Short Term National Municipal Bond Fund (SUB) and the iShares Barclays Agency Bond Fund (AGZ).
