Barclays Halts Sale of New Retail Structured Products in the US

Barclays has announced Monday that it is halting the sale of new retail structured products as it continues to be investigated by regulators over a $15bn trading error.
The famous business-oriented bank now faces regulatory scrutiny over its trading slip-up from 2019 that’s only recently been discovered.
The bank will have to pay investors over £450m in reparations, and one of the largest shareholders has already sold double that amount in the bank’s shares. Barclays’ clerical error will also force the bank to buy back affected securities at their original price.
According to the law, all providers of structured products must register their shelves with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Barclays used to have a license that allowed its shelf to automatically increase the more items it issued, but this was changed following the trading debacle. Not realizing the error for years, the bank had continued to operate as if its shelf would automatically rise, which resulted in it exceeding its pre-set limit of $20.8bn by $15.2bn.
Barclays immediately stopped issuing new shares, but the damage to its finances and reputation was already done.
This is certainly not the news that investors wanted to hear from Barclays, especially as the lender is already under a great deal of scrutiny from regulators. It remains to be seen what the outcome of the investigation will be, but Barclays will likely face a substantial fine in addition to the other costs it will have to pay.
It’s not the first time Barclays has been under fire for its trading practices. In 2012, it was fined $450 million by US and UK authorities for manipulating Libor rates. This will be a much costlier blunder, though, and the full extent of the costs may not be visible for quite some time.
More News
Your email address will not be published.