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.
The Vanguard Group Inc. has slashed costs on five more exchange traded funds in its latest effort to play catch-up with Barclays Global Advisors.
RevenueShares Investor Services LLC became the latest firm to enter the exchange traded fund market Friday, launching three ETFs based on indexes weighted by the amount of company revenue.
When Claymore Securities Inc. of Lisle, Ill., this month announced that it was liquidating 11 exchange traded funds — the first large-scale liquidation of ETFs since the funds were created — some industry experts said investors should view it as a warning.
An organization advocating divestment from companies that support the economies in countries perpetrating genocide won an initial victory in bringing their cause to the fund boards of more than two dozen Fidelity funds.
Exchange traded funds that invest in municipal bonds are looking more attractive these days, thanks mostly to their competitive yields.
The minor-league status of WisdomTree Investments Inc. in the world of exchange traded funds could change following a deal struck last month with The Dreyfus Corp.
Shares of Ambac and MBIA rose after CNBC reported the names of eight banks that have banded together with the New York state Insurance Department to rescue the beleaguered bond insurance industry.
The Investment Company Institute has created a committee for exchange traded funds in what some say is an effort to head off the possibility that ETF providers will create their own trade association.
Banks could be obliged to to set aside $143 billion in reserves if municipal bonds are downgraded, a report says.
Moody's downgrade of FMR Corp.'s debt rating reflects an unseen mountain of unrated debt the company has accumulated in recent years, according to the rating agency.
Assets invested in exchange traded funds grew by $32 billion, or 5.5%, to $608 billion in November.
Burned in the aftermath of Bear Stearns’ two collapsed hedge funds, Barclays has sued the firm and a pair of its fund managers.
Despite the drop in assets, 26 new ETFs were added to the market last month, brining the total number to 612.
Despite once having been seen as betraying financial advisers, The Vanguard Group Inc. of Malvern, Pa., continues to ratchet up efforts to court them.
The Investment Company Institute, the powerful mouthpiece of the mutual fund industry, is trying to torpedo the tax advantages of exchange traded notes, and industry insiders think that it has a pretty good chance of being successful.
