The FCA has fined Barclays plc and Barclays Banks a provisional £50m over dealings with Qatari investors.
Barclays has appealed the FCA decision notices to the Upper Tribunal so any fine is provisional.
The Financial Conduct Authority fined Barclays a total of £50 million for failing to disclose certain financial dealings with “Qatari entities” as part of capital raising efforts in 2008.
The FCA said Barclays’ conduct in the capital raising in October 2008 was “reckless and lacked integrity.”
The Upper Tribunal will determine whether to uphold the FCA’s decisions against Barclays or not and whether there are any other actions that should be taken by the FCA.
The capital raisings were carried out at the time of the 2008 financial crisis and were subject to intense market and public scrutiny, the FCA said.
At the time Barclays entered into two advisory agreements involving payments to one of the Qatari entities totalling £322 million over three and five years respectively.
The payments were calculated by reference to the Qataris’ financial demands for investing in the capital raisings, not the value of the advisory services that Barclays expected to receive under the agreements, the regulator said.
Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement and market Oversight, said: “At the height of the financial crisis in October 2008, Barclays paid hundreds of millions of pounds in fees to certain Qatari investors so that they would contribute new capital.
“Barclays did not inform the market and shareholders about these matters as required. Barclays’ failure to disclose these matters was reckless and lacked integrity and followed an earlier failure to disclose fees paid to Qatari investors in June 2008.
“There was no legitimate reason or excuse for failing to disclose these matters, certainly no basis for doing so because of the financial crisis. Due transparency is always critical to financial markets, especially in times of market or financial stress. These findings by the FCA will now be considered by the Upper Tribunal.”
