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Barclays has unveiled a series of alleged misconduct issues that have again placed it in the sights of researchers.
The FTSE 100 Banking Group is being investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority about alleged lax checks against anti-money laundering practices and financial crimes, Barclays said on Thursday.
The British lender unveiled the investigation into civil enforcement in its annual report published in addition to the profit of the fourth quarter, including a provision of £ 90 million for potential assault of car financing as a result of a separate FCA probe.
The new loss of money “focuses primarily on the historical supervision and management of certain customers with an increased risk,” said Barclays, adding that it collaborated with the FCA.
It is the last collision between Barclays and the FCA, which the bank fines £ 40 million at the end of last year about payments to Qatari investors who were linked to an injection in emergency capital that the supervisor called “reckless” in 2008. In 2015, the bank also landed an FCA fine of £ 72 million for sloppy financial crime checks around rich Qatarian customers.
The new disclosures come two years after the Financial Times reported that the FCA had ordered an independent assessment of Barclays’ systems used to detect and prevent financial crime. Last year, the regulator brought banks to the attention of improving their money washing controls.
Barclays also stands for a separate challenge of the British tax authorities about the interpretation of bank tax legislation, an annual costs that apply to British balance sheets that were introduced in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
The two new legal issues are a problem for the British lender, who was already entangled in the broader car financing scandal; A problem that analysts have estimated can cost the industry billions.
Barclays left the market in 2019 and is not supposed to be exposed to the issue such as Rivals such as Close Brothers, Lloyds Banking Group and Santander UK.
The FCA did not immediately respond to a request to ask for comments.
The update is because Barclays reported a net profit of £ 1 billion for the fourth quarter, considerably higher than the same period in the previous year when the bank booked a net loss of £ 111 million that was largely related to structural cost savings. Group income increased by 24 percent to £ 7 billion, compared to the £ 6.7 billion analysts.
Investors marked the shares in the middle of the morning trade by 5 percent, however, because better than expected results could not translate into improved prospects for next year.
“In general a solid series of results, but little new to become enthusiastic about both,” said Andrew Coombs, an analyst at Citi. “This, plus the strong run -up in the share price in the past year, can pent any first reaction.”
The shares of Barclays have more than doubled since CEO CS Venkatakrishnan revealed its restructuring plan last year that £ 10 billion promised to the shareholders for three years and an obligation to considerably expand the home market, and to limit the amount of capital that by the Capital is limited that the capital is achieved, limit its investment bank.
Investment banking, however, offered a blessing for the quarterly profit of Barclays, because shares and traders benefited fixed income from market volatility in the US prior to the elections.
Income from stock trading increased by 40 percent year to year to £ 604 million, while fixed -income trade revenue increased by 29 percent to £ 934 million. Barclays also reported an increase of 22 percent in investment bank costs, while the company capital markets with income are left with 9 percent.
The performance falls broadly in accordance with the strategy set out by Co-Heads Taylor Wright and Cathal Deasy in investment banking in October to concentrate more on advice and share capital markets and to become less dependent on debt insurance policies.
Barclays reported credit entry costs of £ 700 million, an increase of approximately 17 percent compared to last year and slightly higher than expected.
“We see the share price of Barclays in the ‘Travel and Aricour’ mode, given the 15 percent [year to date] Performance with the results influenced by higher restructuring cost levels compared to consensus, ”said Kian Abouhossein, an analyst at JPMorgan.
Venkatakrishnan and Finance Chief Anna Cross shot the idea that the bank would offer at Santander’s British company. The Financial Times reported earlier that last year the Spanish lender rejected a “low ball” offer for his British retail activities from Barclays.
The bank also announced in its annual report that chairman Nigel Higgins has received an extension of three years and a wage increase of 8 percent to £ 925,000.
Additional reporting by Martin Arnold in London