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.
More than two years after the launch of the first variable annuity based on exchange traded funds, VA providers and financial advisers are still ap-proaching the product with caution.
The first state-specific municipal bond exchange traded funds began trading today, Barclays Global Investors announced.
Three hedge funds are set to pounce on Northern Rock, the British mortgage lender.
Recent recalls of Chinese products, including poisonous pet food and toys coated in lead paint, are having little effect on red-hot Chinese stocks.
Despite a downturn in private-equity returns, two new exchange traded funds providing investors access to that space may soon be launched. The proposed ETFs — one from PowerShares Capital Management LLC of Wheaton, Ill., and the other from Barclays Global Investors of San Francisco — would join what is the only private-equity ETF in existence: the PowerShares Listed Private Equity Fund.
The iShares S&P National Municipal Bond Fund from Barclays Global Investors won’t be the last.
WASHINGTON — Investment opportunities in India are on the rise, as experts predict that the country’s potential lies well beyond customer call centers. Greenwich (Conn.) Advisors LLC recently created an open-end fund that will invest in 25 to 40 Indian companies in a range of industries, including software, banking, infrastructure, retail, pharmaceuticals and real estate.
Cheyne Capital Management, a London-based independent hedge fund manager, may be forced to liquidate some assets to repay its creditors.
Despite a surge in popularity among investors, target date mutual funds continue to operate without adequate benchmarks to help financial advisers evaluate whether their performance is up to snuff.
Barclays Global Investors today launched the first iShare ETF to invest in international real estate via real estate investment trusts.
The new ETF tracks the Morgan Stanley Capital International Europe, Australasia and Far East index.
The Vanguard Group Inc. is pushing advisers out of a popular class of shares, and some financial advisers and industry experts aren’t happy about the move.
PHILADELPHIA — An exchange traded fund that invests in municipal bonds is expected finally to become a reality — a prospect that excites some financial advisers.
ETF assets fell to $478 billion in June from $480 billion in May, according to State Street Global Advisors.
Barclays has added Aaron Tan as managing director and head of Hong Kong coverage, Finance Asia reported.
