TIDMBARC
RNS Number : 4965P
Barclays PLC
18 February 2021
18 February 2021
Barclays PLC
Annual Report and Accounts 2020
UK Listing Authority submissions
In compliance with Disclosure Guidance & Transparency Rule
(DTR) 4.1, Barclays PLC announces that the following documents will
today be submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will
shortly be available for inspection at:
https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism
-- Barclays PLC Annual Report 2020
-- Barclays PLC Strategic Report
2020; and
-- Pillar 3 Report for 2020.
These documents may also be accessed via Barclays PLC's website
at home.barclays/annualreport
The Barclays PLC Strategic Report 2020 (or the full Annual
Report 2020 for those shareholders who have requested it) will be
posted to shareholders with mailing of the Barclays PLC 2021 Notice
of Annual General Meeting in due course.
Additional information
The following information is extracted from the Barclays PLC
Annual Report 2020 (page references are to pages in the Annual
Report) and should be read in conjunction with Barclays PLC's Final
Results announcement issued on 18 February 2021. Both documents can
be found at home.barclays/annualreport and together constitute the
material required by DTR 6.3.5 to be communicated to the media in
unedited full text through a Regulatory Information Service. This
material is not a substitute for reading the Barclays PLC Annual
Report 2020 in full.
Risk review
Material existing and emerging risks
Material existing and emerging risks to the Group's future
performance
The Group has identified a broad range of risks to which its
businesses are exposed. Material risks are those to which senior
management pay particular attention and which could cause the
delivery of the Group's strategy, results of operations, financial
condition and/or prospects to differ materially from expectations.
Emerging risks are those which have unknown components, the impact
of which could crystallise over a longer time period. In addition,
certain other factors beyond the Group's control, including
escalation of terrorism or global conflicts, natural disasters,
pandemics and similar events, although not detailed below, could
have a similar impact on the Group.
Material existing and emerging risks potentially impacting more
than one principal risk
i) Risks relating to the impact of COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has had, and continues to have, a material
impact on businesses around the world and the economic environments
in which they operate. There are a number of factors associated
with the pandemic and its impact on global economies that could
have a material adverse effect on (among other things) the
profitability, capital and liquidity of financial institutions such
as Barclays.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption to the Group's
customers, suppliers and staff globally. Most jurisdictions in
which the Group operates have implemented severe restrictions on
the movement of their respective populations, with a resultant
significant impact on economic activity in those jurisdictions.
These restrictions are being determined by the governments of
individual jurisdictions (including through the implementation of
emergency powers) and impacts (including the timing of
implementation and any subsequent lifting or extension of
restrictions) may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and/or
within jurisdictions. It remains unclear how the COVID-19 pandemic
will evolve through 2021 (including whether there will be further
waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, whether COVID-19 vaccines approved
for use by regulatory authorities will be deployed successfully
with desired results, whether further new strains of COVID-19 will
emerge and whether, and in what manner, additional restrictions
will be imposed and/or existing restrictions extended) and the
Group continues to monitor the situation closely. However, despite
the COVID-19 contingency plans established by the Group, the
ability to conduct business may be adversely affected by
disruptions to infrastructure, business processes and technology
services, resulting from the unavailability of staff due to illness
or the failure of third parties to supply services. This may cause
significant customer detriment, costs to reimburse losses incurred
by the Group's customers, potential litigation costs (including
regulatory fines, penalties and other sanctions), and reputational
damage.
In many of the jurisdictions in which the Group operates,
schemes have been initiated by central banks, national governments
and regulators to provide financial support to parts of the economy
most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. These schemes have been
designed and implemented at pace, meaning lenders (including
Barclays) continue to address operational issues which have arisen
in connection with the implementation of the schemes, including
resolving the interaction between the schemes and existing law and
regulation. In addition, the full extent of how these schemes will
impact the Group's customers and therefore the impact on the Group
remains uncertain at this stage. However, certain actions (such as
the introduction of payment holidays for various consumer lending
products or the cancellation or waiver of fees associated with
certain products) may negatively impact the effective interest rate
earned on the Group's portfolios and may reduce fee income being
earned on certain products and negatively impact the Group's
profitability. Furthermore, the introduction of, and participation
in, central-bank supported loan and other financing schemes
introduced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic may negatively
impact the Group's RWAs, level of impairment and, in turn, capital
position (particularly when any transitional relief applied to the
calculation of RWAs and impairment expires). This may be
exacerbated if the Group is required by any government or regulator
to offer forbearance or additional financial relief to borrowers or
if the Group is unable to rely on guarantees provided by
governments in connection with financial support schemes as a
result of the Group's failure to comply with scheme requirements or
otherwise.
As these schemes and other financial support schemes provided by
national governments (such as job retention and furlough schemes)
expire, are withdrawn or are no longer supported, economic growth
may be negatively impacted which may impact the Group's results of
operations and profitability. In addition, the Group may experience
a higher volume of defaults and delinquencies in certain portfolios
and may initiate collection and enforcement actions to recover
defaulted debts. Where defaulting borrowers are harmed by the
Group's conduct, this may give rise to civil legal proceedings,
including class actions, regulatory censure, potentially
significant fines and other sanctions, and reputational damage.
Other legal disputes may also arise between the Group and
defaulting borrowers relating to matters such as breaches or
enforcement of legal rights or obligations arising under loan and
other credit agreements. Adverse findings in any such matters may
result in the Group's rights not being enforced as intended. For
further details, refer to "viii) Legal risk and legal, competition
and regulatory matters" below.
The actions taken by various governments and central banks, in
particular in the United Kingdom and the United States, may
indicate a view on the potential severity of any economic downturn
and post recovery environment, which from a commercial, regulatory
and risk perspective could be significantly different to past
crises and persist for a prolonged period. The COVID-19 pandemic
has led to a weakening in gross domestic product (GDP) in most
jurisdictions in which the Group operates and an expectation of
higher unemployment in those same jurisdictions. These factors all
have a significant impact on the modelling of expected credit
losses (ECLs) by the Group. As a result, the Group experienced
higher ECLs in 2020 compared to prior periods and this trend may
continue in 2021. The economic environment remains uncertain and
future impairment charges may be subject to further volatility
(including from changes to macroeconomic variable forecasts)
depending on the longevity of the COVID-19 pandemic and related
containment measures and the efficacy of any COVID-19 vaccines, as
well as the longer term effectiveness of central bank, government
and other support measures. For further details on macroeconomic
variables used in the calculation of ECLs, refer to the credit risk
performance section. In addition, ECLs may be adversely impacted by
increased levels of default for single name exposures in certain
sectors directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic (such as the oil
and gas, retail, airline, and hospitality and leisure sectors).
Furthermore, the Group relies on models to support a broad range
of business and risk management activities, including informing
business decisions and strategies, measuring and limiting risk,
valuing exposures (including the calculation of impairment),
conducting stress testing and assessing capital adequacy. Models
are, by their nature, imperfect and incomplete representations of
reality because they rely on assumptions and inputs, and so they
may be subject to errors affecting the accuracy of their outputs
and/or misused. This may be exacerbated when dealing with
unprecedented scenarios, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the
lack of reliable historical reference points and data. For further
details on model risk, refer to "v) Model risk" below.
The disruption to economic activity globally caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic could adversely impact the Group's other assets
such as goodwill and intangibles, and the value of Barclays PLC's
investments in subsidiaries. It could also impact the Group's
income due to lower lending and transaction volumes due to
volatility or weakness in the capital markets. Other potential
risks include credit rating migration which could negatively impact
the Group's RWAs and capital position, and potential liquidity
stress due to (among other things) increased customer drawdowns,
notwithstanding the significant initiatives that governments and
central banks have put in place to support funding and liquidity.
Furthermore, a significant increase in the utilisation of credit
cards by Barclaycard customers could have a negative impact on the
Group's RWAs and capital position.
Furthermore, in order to support lending activity to promote
economic growth, governments and/or regulators may limit
management's flexibility in managing its business, require the
deployment of capital in particular business lines or otherwise
restrict or limit capital distributions and capital allocation.
Any and all such events mentioned above could have a material
adverse effect on the Group's business, financial condition,
results of operations, prospects, liquidity, capital position and
credit ratings (including potential credit rating agency changes of
outlooks or ratings), as well as on the Group's customers,
employees and suppliers.
ii) Business conditions, general economy and geopolitical
issues
The Group's operations are subject to potentially unfavourable
global and local economic and market conditions, as well as
geopolitical developments, which may have a material effect on the
Group's business, results of operations, financial condition and
prospects.
A deterioration in global or local economic and market
conditions may lead to (among other things): (i) deteriorating
business, consumer or investor confidence and lower levels of fixed
asset investment and productivity growth, which in turn may lead to
lower client activity, including lower demand for borrowing from
creditworthy customers; (ii) higher default rates, delinquencies,
write-offs and impairment charges as borrowers struggle with the
burden of additional debt; (iii) subdued asset prices and payment
patterns, including the value of any collateral held by the Group;
(iv) mark-to-market losses in trading portfolios resulting from
changes in factors such as credit ratings, share prices and
solvency of counterparties; and (v) revisions to calculated ECLs
leading to increases in impairment allowances. In addition, the
Group's ability to borrow from other financial institutions or
raise funding from external investors may be affected by
deteriorating economic conditions and market disruption.
Geopolitical events may lead to further financial instability
and affect economic growth. In particular:
-- Global GDP growth weakened sharply in the first half of 2020
as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst a number of central
banks and governments implemented financial stimulus packages to
counter the economic impact of the pandemic, recovery has been
slower than anticipated and concerns remain as to whether (a) there
will be subsequent waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, (b) further
financial stimulus will be required and/or (c) governments will be
required to significantly increase taxation to fund these
commitments. All of these factors could adversely affect economic
growth, affect specific industries or countries or affect the
Group's employees and business operations in affected countries.
See "i) Risks relating to the impact of COVID-19" above for further
details.
-- In the UK, the decision to leave the European Union (EU) may
give rise to further economic and political consequences including
for investment and market confidence in the UK and the remainder of
EU. See "(iii)The UK's withdrawal from the European Union" below
for further details.
-- A significant proportion of the Group's portfolio is located
in the US, including a major credit card portfolio and a range of
corporate and investment banking exposures. The possibility of
significant continued changes in US policy in certain sectors
(including trade, healthcare and commodities) may have an impact on
the Group's associated portfolios. Stress in the US economy,
weakening GDP and the associated exchange rate fluctuations,
heightened trade tensions (such as the current dispute between the
US and China), an unexpected rise in unemployment and/or an
increase in interest rates could lead to increased levels of
impairment, resulting in a negative impact on the Group's
profitability.
-- An escalation in geopolitical tensions or increased use of
protectionist measures may negatively impact the Group's business
in the affected regions.
-- In China the pace of credit growth remains a concern, given
the high level of leverage and despite government and regulatory
action. A stronger than expected slowdown could result if
authorities fail to appropriately manage growth during the
transition from manufacturing towards services and the end of the
investment and credit-led boom. Deterioration in emerging markets
could affect the Group if it results in higher impairment charges
via sovereign or counterparty defaults.
iii) The UK's withdrawal from the European Union
There are a number of factors associated with the UK's
withdrawal from the EU, which could have a material adverse effect
on the Group's business, results of operations, financial condition
and prospects.
Trade and economic activity between the EU and UK
The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), which provides
a new economic and social partnership between the EU and UK
(including zero tariffs and zero quotas on all goods that comply
with the appropriate rules of origin) came into force provisionally
on 1 January 2021.
The TCA is a new, unprecedented arrangement between the EU and
the UK, and there is some uncertainty as to its operation and the
manner in which trading arrangements will be enforced by both the
EU and the UK. Furthermore, the EU and/or the UK can invoke trade
remedies (such as tariffs and non-tariff barriers) against each
other in certain circumstances under the TCA. Resultant trading
disruption may have a significant impact on economic activity in
the EU and the UK which (in turn) could have a material adverse
effect on the Group's business, results of operations, financial
condition and prospects. Unstable economic conditions could result
in (among other things):
-- a recession in the UK and/or one or more member states of the
EEA in which it operates, with lower growth, higher unemployment
and falling property prices, which could lead to increased
impairments in relation to a number of the Group's portfolios
(including, but not limited to, its UK mortgage portfolio,
unsecured lending portfolio (including credit cards) and commercial
real estate exposures);
-- increased market volatility (in particular in currencies and
interest rates), which could impact the Group's trading book
positions and affect the underlying value of assets in the banking
book and securities held by the Group for liquidity purposes;
-- a credit rating downgrade for one or more members of the
Group (either directly or indirectly as a result of a downgrade in
the UK sovereign credit ratings), which could significantly
increase the Group's cost of and/or reduce its access to funding,
widen credit spreads and materially adversely affect the Group's
interest margins and liquidity position; and/or
-- a widening of credit spreads more generally or reduced
investor appetite for the Group's debt securities, which could
negatively impact the Group's cost of and/or access to funding.
Current provision of financial services
The TCA does not cover financial services regulation.
Accordingly, UK-based entities within the Group (such as Barclays
Bank PLC and Barclays Bank UK PLC) are no longer able to rely on
the European passporting framework for financial services. Barclays
Bank PLC and Barclays Capital Securities Limited have put in place
new arrangements in the provision of cross-border banking and
investment services to customers and counterparties in the EEA
(including by servicing EEA clients through the Group's EEA hub
(Barclays Bank Ireland PLC), whilst Barclays Bank UK PLC remains
focused on UK customers.
The TCA was accompanied by a Joint Declaration on Financial
Services, requiring the parties to agree a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU), by March 2021, establishing the framework for
cooperation in financial services. The MoU will also cover how to
move forward on equivalence determinations between the EU and the
UK.
There can be no assurance that the EU and the UK will reach
further agreement on equivalence decisions. As a result,
equivalence decisions which would enable UK firms to access EEA
clients on a cross border basis for certain markets products,
cannot be relied upon to allow UK-based entities within the Group
to meet all of the needs of customers and clients based in the EEA.
However, there are certain other types of equivalence decisions
which are material to the operations of the Group. To date, the EU
and the UK have only agreed a temporary position on mutual
equivalence in relation to clearing and settlement (CCP
equivalence). If the current mutual, temporary equivalence decision
in relation to CCP equivalence expires and is not replaced, this
could have a material adverse effect on the Group's business as
well as its clients. In addition, HM Treasury has made certain
unilateral equivalence decisions, (including under the Capital
Requirements Regulation (CRR) and the removal of such decisions
could have a material impact on the operations of the Group.
The Group provides the majority of its cross-border banking and
investment services to EEA clients via Barclays Bank Ireland PLC.
Additionally, in certain EEA Member States, Barclays Bank PLC and
Barclays Capital Securities Limited (BCSL) have applied for and
received cross border licences to enable them to continue to
conduct a limited range of activities, including accessing EEA
trading venues and interdealer trading. As a result of the
onshoring of EU legislation in the UK and the exercise of the UK
regulators' Temporary Transitional Powers, UK-based entities within
the Group are currently subject to substantially the same rules and
regulations as prior to the UK's withdrawal from the EU. It is the
UK's intention eventually to recast onshored EU legislation as part
of UK legislation and PRA and FCA rules, which could result in
changes to regulatory requirements in the UK.
If the regulatory regimes for EU and UK financial services
change further, or if temporary permissions and equivalence
decisions expire, and are not replaced, the provision of
cross-border banking and investment services across the Group may
become more complex and costly which could have a material adverse
effect on the Group's business and results of operations and could
result in the Group modifying its legal entity, capital and funding
structures and business mix, exiting certain business activities
altogether or not expanding in areas despite otherwise attractive
potential returns. This may also be exacerbated if, Barclays Bank
Ireland PLC expands further and, as a result of its growth and
importance to the Group and the EEA banking system as a whole,
Barclays Bank Ireland PLC is made subject to higher capital
requirements or restrictions are imposed by regulators on capital
allocation and capital distributions by Barclays Bank Ireland
PLC.
iv) The impact of interest rate changes on the Group's
profitability
Changes to interest rates are significant for the Group,
especially given the uncertainty as to the direction of interest
rates and the pace at which they may change particularly in the
Group's main markets of the UK and the US.
A continued period of low interest rates and flat yield curves,
including any further rate cuts and/or negative interest rates, may
affect and continue to put pressure on the Group's net interest
margins (the difference between its lending income and borrowing
costs) and could adversely affect the profitability and prospects
of the Group.
Interest rate rises could positively impact the Group's
profitability as retail and corporate business income increases due
to margin de-compression. However, further increases in interest
rates, if larger or more frequent than expected, could lead to
generally weaker than expected growth, reduced business confidence
and higher unemployment. This, in turn, could cause stress in the
lending portfolio and underwriting activity of the Group with
resultant higher credit losses driving an increased impairment
charge which would most notably impact retail unsecured portfolios
and wholesale non-investment grade lending and could have a
material effect on the Group's business, results of operations,
financial condition and prospects.
In addition, changes in interest rates could have an adverse
impact on the value of the securities held in the Group's liquid
asset portfolio. Consequently, this could create more volatility
than expected through the Group's Fair Value through Other
Comprehensive Income (FVOCI) reserves.
v) Competition in the banking and financial services
industry
The Group operates in a highly competitive environment (in
particular, in the UK and US) in which it must evolve and adapt to
the significant changes as a result of financial regulatory reform,
technological advances, increased public scrutiny and current
economic conditions. The Group expects that competition in the
financial services industry will continue to be intense and may
have a material adverse effect on the Group's future business,
results of operations and prospects.
New competitors in the financial services industry continue to
emerge. For example, technological advances and the growth of
e-commerce have made it possible for non-banks to offer products
and services that traditionally were banking products. This has
allowed financial institutions and other companies to provide
electronic and internet-based financial solutions, including
electronic securities trading, payments processing and online
automated algorithmic-based investment advice. Furthermore, both
financial institutions and their non-banking competitors face the
risk that payments processing and other services could be
significantly disrupted by technologies, such as cryptocurrencies,
that require no intermediation. New technologies have required and
could require the Group to spend more to modify or adapt its
products or make additional capital investments in its businesses
to attract and retain clients and customers or to match products
and services offered by its competitors, including technology
companies.
Ongoing or increased competition may put pressure on the pricing
for the Group's products and services, which could reduce the
Group's revenues and profitability, or may cause the Group to lose
market share, particularly with respect to traditional banking
products such as deposits, bank accounts and mortgage lending. This
competition may be on the basis of quality and variety of products
and services offered, transaction execution, innovation, reputation
and price. The failure of any of the Group's businesses to meet the
expectations of clients and customers, whether due to general
market conditions, under-performance, a decision not to offer a
particular product or service, changes in client and customer
expectations or other factors, could affect the Group's ability to
attract or retain clients and customers. Any such impact could, in
turn, reduce the Group's revenues.
vi) Regulatory change agenda and impact on business model
The Group remains subject to ongoing significant levels of
regulatory change and scrutiny in many of the countries in which it
operates (including, in particular, the UK and the US). As a
result, regulatory risk will remain a focus for senior management.
Furthermore, a more intensive regulatory approach and enhanced
requirements together with the potential lack of international
regulatory co-ordination as enhanced supervisory standards are
developed and implemented may adversely affect the Group's
business, capital and risk management strategies and/or may result
in the Group deciding to modify its legal entity, capital and
funding structures and business mix, or to exit certain business
activities altogether or not to expand in areas despite otherwise
attractive potential.
There are several significant pieces of legislation and areas of
focus which will require significant management attention, cost and
resource, including:
-- Changes in prudential requirements may impact minimum
requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL)
(including requirements for internal MREL), leverage, liquidity or
funding requirements, applicable buffers and/or add-ons to such
minimum requirements and risk weighted assets calculation
methodologies all as may be set by international, EU or national
authorities. Such or similar changes to prudential requirements or
additional supervisory and prudential expectations, either
individually or in aggregate, may result in, among other things, a
need for further management actions to meet the changed
requirements, such as:
- increasing capital, MREL or liquidity resources, reducing
leverage and risk weighted assets;
- restricting distributions on capital instruments;
- modifying the terms of outstanding capital instruments;
- modifying legal entity structure (including with regard to
issuance and deployment of capital, MREL and funding);
- changing the Group's business mix or exiting other businesses;
and/or
- undertaking other actions to strengthen the Group's
position.
-- The derivatives market has been the subject of particular
focus for regulators in recent years across the G20 countries and
beyond, with regulations introduced which require the reporting and
clearing of standardised over the counter (OTC) derivatives and the
mandatory margining of non-cleared OTC derivatives. These
regulations may increase costs for market participants, as well as
reduce liquidity in the derivatives markets, in particular if there
are areas of overlapping or conflicting regulation. More broadly,
changes to the regulatory framework (in particular, the review of
the second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive and the
implementation of the Benchmarks Regulation) could entail
significant costs for market participants and may have a
significant impact on certain markets in which the Group
operates.
-- The Group and certain of its members are subject to
supervisory stress testing exercises in a number of jurisdictions.
These exercises currently include the programmes of the Bank of
England, the European Banking Authority (EBA), the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Federal Reserve Board (FRB).
Failure to meet the requirements of regulatory stress tests, or the
failure by regulators to approve the stress test results and
capital plans of the Group, could result in the Group or certain of
its members being required to enhance their capital position, limit
capital distributions or position additional capital in specific
subsidiaries.
For further details on the regulatory supervision of, and
regulations applicable to, the Group, see the Supervision and
regulation section.
vii) The impact of climate change on the Group's business
The risks associated with climate change are subject to rapidly
increasing societal, regulatory and political focus, both in the UK
and internationally. Embedding climate risk into the Group's risk
framework in line with regulatory expectations, and adapting the
Group's operations and business strategy to address the financial
risks resulting from both: (i) the physical risk of climate change;
and (ii) the risk from the transition to a low carbon economy,
could have a significant impact on the Group's business.
Physical risks from climate change arise from a number of
factors and relate to specific weather events and longer-term
shifts in the climate. The nature and timing of extreme weather
events are uncertain but they are increasing in frequency and their
impact on the economy is predicted to be more acute in the future.
The potential impact on the economy includes, but is not limited
to, lower GDP growth, higher unemployment and significant changes
in asset prices and profitability of industries. Damage to the
properties and operations of borrowers could impair asset values
and the creditworthiness of customers leading to increased default
rates, delinquencies, write-offs and impairment charges in the
Group's portfolios. In addition, the Group's premises and
resilience may also suffer physical damage due to weather events
leading to increased costs for the Group.
As the economy transitions to a low-carbon economy, financial
institutions such as the Group may face significant and rapid
developments in stakeholder expectations, policy, law and
regulation which could impact the lending activities the Group
undertakes, as well as the risks associated with its lending
portfolios, and the value of the Group's financial assets. As
sentiment towards climate change shifts and societal preferences
change, the Group may face greater scrutiny of the type of business
it conducts, adverse media coverage and reputational damage, which
may in turn impact customer demand for the Group's products,
returns on certain business activities and the value of certain
assets and trading positions resulting in impairment charges.
In addition, the impacts of physical and transition climate
risks can lead to second order connected risks, which have the
potential to affect the Group's retail and wholesale portfolios.
The impacts of climate change may increase losses for those sectors
sensitive to the effects of physical and transition risks. Any
subsequent increase in defaults and rising unemployment could
create recessionary pressures, which may lead to wider
deterioration in the creditworthiness of the Group's clients,
higher ECLs, and increased charge-offs and defaults among retail
customers.
If the Group does not adequately embed risks associated with
climate change into its risk framework to appropriately measure,
manage and disclose the various financial and operational risks it
faces as a result of climate change, or fails to adapt its strategy
and business model to the changing regulatory requirements and
market expectations on a timely basis, it may have a material and
adverse impact on the Group's level of business growth,
competitiveness, profitability, capital requirements, cost of
funding, and financial condition.
For further details on the Group's approach to climate change,
see the climate change risk management section.
viii) Impact of benchmark interest rate reforms on the Group
For several years, global regulators and central banks have been
driving international efforts to reform key benchmark interest
rates and indices, such as the London Interbank Offered Rate
(LIBOR), which are used to determine the amounts payable under a
wide range of transactions and make them more reliable and robust.
This has resulted in significant changes to the methodology and
operation of certain benchmarks and indices, the adoption of
alternative "risk-free" reference rates and the proposed
discontinuation of certain reference rates (including LIBOR), with
further changes anticipated, including UK, EU and US legislative
proposals to deal with 'tough legacy' contracts that cannot convert
into or cannot add fall-back risk-free reference rates. The
consequences of reform are unpredictable and may have an adverse
impact on any financial instruments linked to, or referencing, any
of these benchmark interest rates.
Uncertainty as to the nature of such potential changes, the
availability and/or suitability of alternative "risk-free"
reference rates and other reforms may adversely affect a broad
range of transactions (including any securities, loans and
derivatives which use LIBOR to determine the amount of interest
payable that are included in the Group's financial assets and
liabilities) that use these reference rates and indices and
introduce a number of risks for the Group, including, but not
limited to:
-- Conduct risk: in undertaking actions to transition away from
using certain reference rates (such as LIBOR) to new alternative,
risk-free rates, the Group faces conduct risks. These may lead to
customer complaints, regulatory sanctions or reputational impact if
the Group is considered to be (among other things) (i) undertaking
market activities that are manipulative or create a false or
misleading impression, (ii) misusing sensitive information or not
identifying or appropriately managing or mitigating conflicts of
interest, (iii) providing customers with inadequate advice,
misleading information, unsuitable products or unacceptable
service, (iv) not taking a consistent approach to remediation for
customers in similar circumstances, (v) unduly delaying the
communication and migration activities in relation to client
exposure, leaving them insufficient time to prepare or (vi)
colluding or inappropriately sharing information with
competitors;
-- Financial risks: the valuation of certain of the Group's
financial assets and liabilities may change. Moreover,
transitioning to alternative "risk-free" reference rates may impact
the ability of members of the Group to calculate and model amounts
receivable by them on certain financial assets and determine the
amounts payable on certain financial liabilities (such as debt
securities issued by them) because currently alternative
"risk-free" reference rates (such as the Sterling Overnight Index
Average (SONIA) and the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR))
are look-back rates whereas term rates (such as LIBOR) allow
borrowers to calculate at the start of any interest period exactly
how much is payable at the end of such interest period. This may
have a material adverse effect on the Group's cashflows;
-- Pricing risk: changes to existing reference rates and
indices, discontinuation of any reference rate or indices and
transition to alternative "risk-free" reference rates may impact
the pricing mechanisms used by the Group on certain
transactions;
-- Operational risk : changes to existing reference rates and
indices, discontinuation of any reference rate or index and
transition to alternative "risk-free" reference rates may require
changes to the Group's IT systems, trade reporting infrastructure,
operational processes, and controls. In addition, if any reference
rate or index (such as LIBOR) is no longer available to calculate
amounts payable, the Group may incur additional expenses in
amending documentation for new and existing transactions and/or
effecting the transition from the original reference rate or index
to a new reference rate or index; and
-- Accounting risk: an inability to apply hedge accounting in
accordance with IFRS could lead to increased volatility in the
Group's financial results and performance.
Any of these factors may have a material adverse effect on the
Group's business, results of operations, financial condition and
prospects.
For further details on the impacts of benchmark interest rate
reforms on the Group, see Note 41.
ix) Holding company structure of Barclays PLC and its dependency
on distributions from its subsidiaries
Barclays PLC is a holding company and its principal sources of
income are, and are expected to continue to be, distributions (in
the form of dividends and interest payments) from operating
subsidiaries which also hold the principal assets of the Group. As
a separate legal entity, Barclays PLC relies on such distributions
in order to be able to meet its obligations as they fall due
(including its payment obligations with respect to its debt
securities) and to create distributable reserves for payment of
dividends to ordinary shareholders.
The ability of Barclays PLC's subsidiaries to pay dividends and
interest and Barclays PLC's ability to receive such distributions
from its investments in its subsidiaries and other entities will be
subject not only to such subsidiaries' and other entities'
financial performance and macroeconomic conditions but also to
applicable local laws and other restrictions (including
restrictions imposed by governments and/or regulators, such as
those imposed as part of the UK Government's response to the
COVID-19 pandemic, which limit management's flexibility in managing
the business and taking action in relation to capital distributions
and capital allocation). These laws and restrictions could limit
the payment of dividends and distributions to Barclays PLC by its
subsidiaries and any other entities in which it holds an investment
from time to time, which could restrict Barclays PLC's ability to
meet its obligations and/or to pay dividends to ordinary
shareholders.
x) Application of resolution measures and stabilisation powers
under the Banking Act
Under the Banking Act 2009, as amended (Banking Act),
substantial powers are granted to the Bank of England (or, in
certain circumstances, HM Treasury), in consultation with the PRA,
the FCA and HM Treasury, as appropriate, as part of a special
resolution regime (SRR). These powers enable the relevant UK
resolution authority to implement resolution measures and
stabilisation options with respect to a UK bank or investment firm
and certain of its affiliates (currently including Barclays PLC)
(each, a relevant entity) in circumstances in which the relevant UK
resolution authority is satisfied that the resolution conditions
are met. The SRR consists of five stabilisation options: (i)
private sector transfer of all or part of the business or shares of
the relevant entity, (ii) transfer of all or part of the business
of the relevant entity to a "bridge bank" established by the Bank
of England, (iii) transfer to an asset management vehicle wholly or
partly owned by HM Treasury or the Bank of England, (iv) the
cancellation, transfer or dilution of the relevant entities' equity
(including Barclays PLC's ordinary share capital) and write-down or
conversion of the relevant entity's capital instruments and
liabilities (the bail-in tool) and (v) temporary public ownership
(i.e. nationalisation).
In addition, the relevant UK resolution authority may, in
certain circumstances, in accordance with the Banking Act require
the permanent write-down or conversion into equity of any
outstanding tier 1 capital instruments, tier 2 capital instruments
and internal MREL prior to the exercise of any stabilisation option
(including the bail-in tool). Any such action could result in the
dilution of Barclays PLC's ordinary share capital.
Shareholders should assume that, in a resolution situation,
public financial support will only be available to a relevant
entity as a last resort after the relevant UK resolution
authorities have assessed and used, to the maximum extent
practicable, the resolution tools, including the bail-in tool (the
Bank of England's preferred approach for the resolution of the
Group is a bail-in strategy with a single point of entry at
Barclays PLC). The exercise of any of such powers under the Banking
Act or any suggestion of any such exercise could materially
adversely affect the value of Barclays PLC ordinary shares and
could lead to shareholders losing some or all of their
investment.
In addition, any safeguards within the Banking Act (such as the
'no creditor worse off' principle) may not result in compensation
to shareholders that is equivalent to the full losses incurred by
them in the resolution and there can be no assurance that
shareholders would recover such compensation promptly.
Material existing and emerging risks impacting individual
principal risks
i) Credit risk
Credit risk is the risk of loss to the Group from the failure of
clients, customers or counterparties, including sovereigns, to
fully honour their obligations to members of the Group, including
the whole and timely payment of principal, interest, collateral and
other receivables.
a) Impairment
The introduction of the impairment requirements of IFRS 9
Financial Instruments, resulted in impairment loss allowances that
are recognised earlier, on a more forward-looking basis and on a
broader scope of financial instruments, and may continue to have a
material impact on the Group's business, results of operations,
financial condition and prospects.
Measurement involves complex judgement and impairment charges
could be volatile, particularly under stressed conditions.
Unsecured products with longer expected lives, such as credit
cards, are the most impacted. Taking into account the transitional
regime, the capital treatment on the increased reserves has the
potential to adversely impact the Group's regulatory capital
ratios.
In addition, the move from incurred losses to ECLs has the
potential to impact the Group's performance under stressed economic
conditions or regulatory stress tests. For more information, refer
to Note 1.
b) Specific sectors and concentrations
The Group is subject to risks arising from changes in credit
quality and recovery rates of loans and advances due from borrowers
and counterparties in any specific portfolio. Any deterioration in
credit quality could lead to lower recoverability and higher
impairment in a specific sector. The following are areas of
uncertainties to the Group's portfolio which could have a material
impact on performance:
-- UK retail, hospitality and leisure. Softening demand, rising
costs and a structural shift to online shopping is fuelling
pressure on the UK High Street and other sectors heavily reliant on
consumer discretionary spending. As these sectors continue to
reposition themselves, the trend represents a potential risk in the
Group's UK corporate portfolio from the perspective of its
interactions with both retailers and their landlords.
-- Consumer affordability has remained a key area of focus, particularly in unsecured lending. Macroeconomic factors, such as rising unemployment, that impact a customer's ability to service debt payments could lead to increased arrears in both unsecured and secured products.
-- UK real estate market. UK property represents a significant
portion of the overall Group retail credit exposure. In 2020,
property prices fluctuated significantly. In the first half of 2020
the Group's retail exposure experienced a suppressed UK real estate
market due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst the
second half of 2020 saw increased activity as financial support
schemes and a temporary stamp duty cut took effect. However, there
can be no assurance that the recovery in the UK real estate market
will continue in 2021 especially as the longer term macroeconomic
effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are felt, financial support
schemes are withdrawn and stamp duty cuts are reversed, and growth
across the UK has slowed, particularly in London and the South East
where the Group has a high exposure. The Group's corporate exposure
is vulnerable to the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 stress, with
particular weakness in retail property as a result of reduced rent
collections and residential development. The Group is at risk of
increased impairment from a material fall in property prices.
-- Leverage finance underwriting. The Group takes on
sub-investment grade underwriting exposure, including single name
risk, particularly in the US and Europe. The Group is exposed to
credit events and market volatility during the underwriting period.
Any adverse events during this period may potentially result in
loss for the Group, or an increased capital requirement should
there be a need to hold the exposure for an extended period.
-- Italian mortgage and wholesale exposure. The Group is exposed
to a decline in the Italian economic environment through a mortgage
portfolio in run-off and positions to wholesale customers. The
Italian economy was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in
2020 and recovery has been slower than anticipated. Should the
Italian economy deteriorate further or any recovery take longer to
materialise, there could be a material adverse effect on the
Group's results of operations including, but not limited to,
increased credit losses and higher impairment charges.
-- Oil & Gas sector. The Group's corporate credit exposure
includes companies whose performance is dependent on the oil and
gas sector. Weaker demand for energy products, in particular as a
result of the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with a sustained period
of lower energy prices has led to the erosion of balance sheet
strength, particularly for higher cost producers and those
businesses who supply goods and services to the oil and gas sector.
Any recovery from the drop in demand is likely to remain volatile
and energy prices could remain subdued at low levels for the
foreseeable future, below the break-even point for some companies.
Furthermore, in the longer term, costs associated with the
transition towards renewable sources of energy may place great
demands on companies that the Group has exposure to globally. These
factors could have a material adverse effect on the Group's
business, results of operations and financial condition through
increased impairment charges.
The Group also has large individual exposures to single name
counterparties, both in its lending activities and in its financial
services and trading activities, including transactions in
derivatives and transactions with brokers, central clearing houses,
dealers, other banks, mutual and hedge funds and other
institutional clients. The default of such counterparties could
have a significant impact on the carrying value of these assets. In
addition, where such counterparty risk has been mitigated by taking
collateral, credit risk may remain high if the collateral held
cannot be realised, or has to be liquidated at prices which are
insufficient to recover the full amount of the loan or derivative
exposure. Any such defaults could have a material adverse effect on
the Group's results due to, for example, increased credit losses
and higher impairment charges.
For further details on the Group's approach to credit risk, see
the credit risk management and credit risk performance
sections.
ii) Market risk
Market risk is the risk of loss arising from potential adverse
change in the value of the Group's assets and liabilities from
fluctuation in market variables including, but not limited to,
interest rates, foreign exchange, equity prices, commodity prices,
credit spreads, implied volatilities and asset correlations.
Economic and financial market uncertainties remain elevated, as
the path of the COVID-19 pandemic is inherently difficult to
predict. Further waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, deployment of
COVID-19 vaccines not being as successful as desired, intensifying
social unrest that weighs on market sentiment, and deteriorating
trade and geopolitical tensions are some of the factors that could
heighten market risks for the Group's portfolios.
In addition, the Group's trading business is generally exposed
to a prolonged period of elevated asset price volatility,
particularly if it negatively affects the depth of marketplace
liquidity. Such a scenario could impact the Group's ability to
execute client trades and may also result in lower client
flow-driven income and/or market-based losses on its existing
portfolio of market risks. These can include having to absorb
higher hedging costs from rebalancing risks that need to be managed
dynamically as market levels and their associated volatilities
change.
It is difficult to predict changes in market conditions, and
such changes could have a material adverse effect on the Group's
business, results of operations, financial condition and
prospects.
For further details on the Group's approach to market risk, see
the market risk management and market risk performance
sections.
iii) Treasury and capital risk
There are three primary types of treasury and capital risk faced
by the Group:
a) Liquidity risk
Liquidity risk is the risk that the Group is unable to meet its
contractual or contingent obligations or that it does not have the
appropriate amount, tenor and composition of funding and liquidity
to support its assets. This could cause the Group to fail to meet
regulatory liquidity standards or be unable to support day-to-day
banking activities. Key liquidity risks that the Group faces
include:
-- The stability of the Group's current funding profile: In
particular, that part which is based on accounts and deposits
payable on demand or at short notice, could be affected by the
Group failing to preserve the current level of customer and
investor confidence. The Group also regularly accesses the money
and capital markets to provide short-term and long-term funding to
support its operations. Several factors, including adverse
macroeconomic conditions, adverse outcomes in conduct and legal,
competition and regulatory matters and loss of confidence by
investors, counterparties and/or customers in the Group, can affect
the ability of the Group to access the capital markets and/or the
cost and other terms upon which the Group is able to obtain market
funding.
-- Credit rating changes and the impact on funding costs: Rating
agencies regularly review credit ratings given to Barclays PLC and
certain members of the Group. Credit ratings are based on a number
of factors, including some which are not within the Group's control
(such as political and regulatory developments, changes in rating
methodologies, macroeconomic conditions and the sovereign credit
ratings of the countries in which the Group operates).
Whilst the impact of a credit rating change will depend on a
number of factors (including the type of issuance and prevailing
market conditions), any reductions in a credit rating (in
particular, any downgrade below investment grade) may affect the
Group's access to the money or capital markets and/or terms on
which the Group is able to obtain market funding, increase costs of
funding and credit spreads, reduce the size of the Group's deposit
base, trigger additional collateral or other requirements in
derivative contracts and other secured funding arrangements or
limit the range of counterparties who are willing to enter into
transactions with the Group. Any of these factors could have a
material adverse effect on the Group's business, results of
operations, financial condition and prospects.
b) Capital risk
Capital risk is the risk that the Group has an insufficient
level or composition of capital to support its normal business
activities and to meet its regulatory capital requirements under
normal operating environments or stressed conditions (both actual
and as defined for internal planning or regulatory stress testing
purposes). This includes the risk from the Group's pension plans.
Key capital risks that the Group faces include:
-- Failure to meet prudential capital requirements: This could
lead to the Group being unable to support some or all of its
business activities, a failure to pass regulatory stress tests,
increased cost of funding due to deterioration in investor appetite
or credit ratings, restrictions on distributions including the
ability to meet dividend targets, and/or the need to take
additional measures to strengthen the Group's capital or leverage
position.
-- Adverse changes in FX rates impacting capital ratios: The
Group has capital resources, risk weighted assets and leverage
exposures denominated in foreign currencies. Changes in foreign
currency exchange rates may adversely impact the Sterling
equivalent value of these items. As a result, the Group's
regulatory capital ratios are sensitive to foreign currency
movements. Failure to appropriately manage the Group's balance
sheet to take account of foreign currency movements could result in
an adverse impact on the Group's regulatory capital and leverage
ratios.
-- Adverse movements in the pension fund: Adverse movements in
pension assets and liabilities for defined benefit pension schemes
could result in deficits on a funding and/or accounting basis. This
could lead to the Group making substantial additional contributions
to its pension plans and/or a deterioration in its capital
position. Under IAS 19, the liabilities discount rate is derived
from the yields of high quality corporate bonds. Therefore, the
valuation of the Group's defined benefits schemes would be
adversely affected by a prolonged fall in the discount rate due to
a persistent low interest rate and/or credit spread environment.
Inflation is another significant risk driver to the pension fund as
the liabilities are adversely impacted by an increase in long-term
inflation expectations.
c) Interest rate risk in the banking book
Interest rate risk in the banking book is the risk that the
Group is exposed to capital or income volatility because of a
mismatch between the interest rate exposures of its (non-traded)
assets and liabilities. The Group's hedge programmes for interest
rate risk in the banking book rely on behavioural assumptions and,
as a result, the success of the hedging strategy cannot be
guaranteed. A potential mismatch in the balance or duration of the
hedge assumptions could lead to earnings deterioration. A decline
in interest rates in G3 currencies may also compress net interest
margin on retail portfolios. In addition, the Group's liquid asset
portfolio is exposed to potential capital and/or income volatility
due to movements in market rates and prices.
For further details on the Group's approach to treasury and
capital risk, see the treasury and capital risk management and
treasury and capital risk performance sections.
iv) Operational risk
Operational risk is the risk of loss to the Group from
inadequate or failed processes or systems, human factors or due to
external events where the root cause is not due to credit or market
risks. Examples include:
a) Operational resilience
The Group functions in a highly competitive market, with market
participants that expect consistent and smooth business processes.
The loss of or disruption to business processing is a material
inherent risk within the Group and across the financial services
industry, whether arising through impacts on the Group's technology
systems, real estate services including its retail branch network,
or availability of personnel or services supplied by third parties.
Failure to build resilience and recovery capabilities into business
processes or into the services of technology, real estate or
suppliers on which the Group's business processes depend, may
result in significant customer detriment, costs to reimburse losses
incurred by the Group's customers, and reputational damage.
b) Cyber-attacks
Cyber-attacks continue to be a global threat that is inherent
across all industries, with a spike in both number and severity of
attacks observed recently. The financial sector remains a primary
target for cyber criminals, hostile nation states, opportunists and
hacktivists. The Group, like other financial institutions,
experiences numerous attempts to compromise its cyber security.
The Group dedicates significant resources to reducing cyber
security risks, but it cannot provide absolute security against
cyber-attacks. Malicious actors are increasingly sophisticated in
their methods, seeking to steal money, gain unauthorised access to,
destroy or manipulate data, and disrupt operations, and some of
their attacks may not be recognised until launched, such as
zero-day attacks that are launched before patches and defences can
be readied. Cyber-attacks can originate from a wide variety of
sources and target the Group in numerous ways, including attacks on
networks, systems, or devices used by the Group or parties such as
service providers and other suppliers, counterparties, employees,
contractors, customers or clients, presenting the Group with a vast
and complex defence perimeter. Moreover, the Group does not have
direct control over the cyber security of the systems of its
clients, customers, counterparties and third-party service
providers and suppliers, limiting the Group's ability to
effectively defend against certain threats.
A failure in the Group's adherence to its cyber security
policies, procedures or controls, employee malfeasance, and human,
governance or technological error could also compromise the Group's
ability to successfully defend against cyber-attacks. Furthermore,
certain legacy technologies that are at or approaching end-of-life
may not be able to be able to maintained to acceptable levels of
security. The Group has experienced cyber security incidents and
near-misses in the past, and it is inevitable that additional
incidents will occur in the future. Cyber security risks will
continue to increase, due to factors such as the increasing demand
across the industry and customer expectations for continued
expansion of services delivered over the Internet; increasing
reliance on Internet-based products, applications and data storage;
and changes in ways of working by the Group's employees,
contractors, and third party service providers and suppliers and
their sub-contractors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bad
actors have taken advantage of remote working practices and
modified customer behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic,
exploiting the situation in novel ways that may elude defences.
Common types of cyber-attacks include deployment of malware,
including destructive ransomware; denial of service and distributed
denial of service (DDoS) attacks; infiltration via business email
compromise, including phishing, or via social engineering,
including vishing and smishing; automated attacks using botnets;
and credential validation or stuffing attacks using login and
password pairs from unrelated breaches. A successful cyber-attack
of any type has the potential to cause serious harm to the Group or
its clients and customers, including exposure to potential
contractual liability, litigation, regulatory or other government
action, loss of existing or potential customers, damage to the
Group's brand and reputation, and other financial loss. The impact
of a successful cyber-attack also is likely to include operational
consequences (such as unavailability of services, networks,
systems, devices or data) remediation of which could come at
significant cost.
Regulators worldwide continue to recognise cyber security as an
increasing systemic risk to the financial sector and have
highlighted the need for financial institutions to improve their
monitoring and control of, and resilience to cyber-attacks. A
successful cyber-attack may, therefore, result in significant
regulatory fines on the Group.
For further details on the Group's approach to cyber-attacks,
see the operational risk performance section.
c) New and emergent technology
Technology is fundamental to the Group's business and the
financial services industry. Technological advancements present
opportunities to develop new and innovative ways of doing business
across the Group, with new solutions being developed both in-house
and in association with third-party companies. For example, payment
services and securities, futures and options trading are
increasingly occurring electronically, both on the Group's own
systems and through other alternative systems, and becoming
automated. Whilst increased use of electronic payment and trading
systems and direct electronic access to trading markets could
significantly reduce the Group's cost base, it may, conversely,
reduce the commissions, fees and margins made by the Group on these
transactions which could have a material adverse effect on the
Group's business, results of operations, financial condition and
prospects.
Introducing new forms of technology, however, has the potential
to increase inherent risk. Failure to evaluate, actively manage and
closely monitor risk exposure during all phases of business
development could introduce new vulnerabilities and security flaws
and have a material adverse effect on the Group's business, results
of operations, financial condition and prospects.
d) External fraud
The nature of fraud is wide-ranging and continues to evolve, as
criminals continually seek opportunities to target the Group's
business activities and exploit changes to customer behaviour and
product and channel use (such as the increased use of digital
products and enhanced online services) or exploit new products
(such as loans provided under the UK Government's Bounce Back Loan
Scheme and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, which
have been designed to support customers and clients during the
COVID-19 pandemic). Fraud attacks can be very sophisticated and are
often orchestrated by highly organised crime groups who use ever
more sophisticated techniques to target customers and clients
directly to obtain confidential or personal information that can be
used to commit fraud. The UK market has also seen significant
growth in "scams" where the Group takes increased levels of
liability as part of a voluntary code to provide additional
safeguards to customers and clients who are tricked into making
payments to fraudsters. The impact from fraud can lead to customer
detriment, financial losses (including the reimbursement of losses
incurred by customers), loss of business, missed business
opportunities and reputational damage, all of which could have a
material adverse impact on the Group's business, results of
operations, financial condition and prospects.
e) Data management and information protection
The Group holds and processes large volumes of data, including
personally identifiable information, intellectual property, and
financial data and the Group's businesses are subject to complex
and evolving laws and regulations governing the privacy and
protection of personal information of individuals, including
Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation
(GDPR)). The protected parties can include: (i) the Group's clients
and customers, and prospective clients and customers; (ii) clients
and customers of the Group's clients and customers; (iii) employees
and prospective employees; and (iv) employees of the Group's
suppliers, counterparties and other external parties.
The international nature of both the Group's business and its IT
infrastructure also means that personal information may be
available in countries other than those from where it originated.
Accordingly, the Group needs to ensure that its collection, use,
transfer and storage of personal information complies with all
applicable laws and regulations in all relevant jurisdictions,
which could: (i) increase the Group's compliance and operating
costs; (ii) impact the development of new products or services,
impact the offering of existing products or services, or affect how
products and services are offered to clients and customers; (iii)
demand significant oversight by the Group's management; and (iv)
require the Group to review some elements of the structure of its
businesses, operations and systems in less efficient ways.
Concerns regarding the effectiveness of the Group's measures to
safeguard personal information, or even the perception that those
measures are inadequate, could expose the Group to the risk of loss
or unavailability of data or data integrity issues and/or cause the
Group to lose existing or potential clients and customers, and
thereby reduce the Group's revenues. Furthermore, any failure or
perceived failure by the Group to comply with applicable privacy or
data protection laws and regulations may subject it to potential
contractual liability, litigation, regulatory or other government
action (including significant regulatory fines) and require changes
to certain operations or practices which could also inhibit the
Group's development or marketing of certain products or services,
or increase the costs of offering them to customers. Any of these
events could damage the Group's reputation and otherwise materially
adversely affect its business, results of operations, financial
condition and prospects.
f) Algorithmic trading
In some areas of the investment banking business, trading
algorithms are used to price and risk manage client and principal
transactions. An algorithmic error could result in erroneous or
duplicated transactions, a system outage, or impact the Group's
pricing abilities, which could have a material adverse effect on
the Group's business, results of operations, financial condition
and prospects and reputation.
g) Processing error
The Group's businesses are highly dependent on its ability to
process and monitor, on a daily basis, a very large number of
transactions, many of which are highly complex and occur at high
volumes and frequencies, across numerous and diverse markets in
many currencies. As the Group's customer base and geographical
reach expand and the volume, speed, frequency and complexity of
transactions, especially electronic transactions (as well as the
requirements to report such transactions on a real-time basis to
clients, regulators and exchanges) increase, developing,
maintaining and upgrading operational systems and infrastructure
becomes more challenging, and the risk of systems or human error in
connection with such transactions increases, as well as the
potential consequences of such errors due to the speed and volume
of transactions involved and the potential difficulty associated
with discovering errors quickly enough to limit the resulting
consequences. Furthermore, events that are wholly or partially
beyond the Group's control, such as a spike in transaction volume,
could adversely affect the Group's ability to process transactions
or provide banking and payment services.
Processing errors could result in the Group, among other things,
(i) failing to provide information, services and liquidity to
clients and counterparties in a timely manner; (ii) failing to
settle and/or confirm transactions; (iii) causing funds transfers,
capital markets trades and/or other transactions to be executed
erroneously, illegally or with unintended consequences; and (iv)
adversely affecting financial, trading or currency markets. Any of
these events could materially disadvantage the Group's customers,
clients and counterparties (including them suffering financial
loss) and/or result in a loss of confidence in the Group which, in
turn, could have a material adverse effect on the Group's business,
results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
h) Supplier exposure
The Group depends on suppliers for the provision of many of its
services and the development of technology. Whilst the Group
depends on suppliers, it remains fully accountable for any risk
arising from the actions of suppliers. The dependency on suppliers
and sub-contracting of outsourced services introduces concentration
risk where the failure of specific suppliers could have an impact
on the Group's ability to continue to provide material services to
its customers. Failure to adequately manage supplier risk could
have a material adverse effect on the Group's business, results of
operations, financial condition and prospects.
i) Estimates and judgements relating to critical accounting
policies and capital disclosures
The preparation of financial statements requires the application
of accounting policies and judgements to be made in accordance with
IFRS. Regulatory returns and capital disclosures are prepared in
accordance with the relevant capital reporting requirements and
also require assumptions and estimates to be made. The key areas
involving a higher degree of judgement or complexity, or areas
where assumptions are significant to the consolidated and
individual financial statements, include credit impairment charges,
taxes, fair value of financial instruments, goodwill and intangible
assets, pensions and post-retirement benefits, and provisions
including conduct and legal, competition and regulatory matters
(see the notes to the audited financial statements for further
details). There is a risk that if the judgement exercised, or the
estimates or assumptions used, subsequently turn out to be
incorrect, this could result in material losses to the Group,
beyond what was anticipated or provided for. Further development of
accounting standards and capital interpretations could also
materially impact the Group's results of operations, financial
condition and prospects.
j) Tax risk
The Group is required to comply with the domestic and
international tax laws and practice of all countries in which it
has business operations. There is a risk that the Group could
suffer losses due to additional tax charges, other financial costs
or reputational damage as a result of failing to comply with such
laws and practice, or by failing to manage its tax affairs in an
appropriate manner, with much of this risk attributable to the
international structure of the Group. In addition, increasing
reporting and disclosure requirements around the world and the
digitisation of the administration of tax has potential to increase
the Group's tax compliance obligations further.
k) Ability to hire and retain appropriately qualified
employees
As a regulated financial institution, the Group requires
diversified and specialist skilled colleagues. The Group's ability
to attract, develop and retain a diverse mix of talent is key to
the delivery of its core business activity and strategy. This is
impacted by a range of external and internal factors, such as the
UK's decision to leave the EU and the enhanced individual
accountability applicable to the banking industry. Failure to
attract or prevent the departure of appropriately qualified and
skilled employees could have a material adverse effect on the
Group's business, results of operations, financial condition and
prospects. Additionally, this may result in disruption to service
which could in turn lead to disenfranchising certain customer
groups, customer detriment and reputational damage.
For further details on the Group's approach to operational risk,
see the operational risk management and operational risk
performance sections.
v) Model risk
Model risk is the risk of potential adverse consequences from
financial assessments or decisions based on incorrect or misused
model outputs and reports. The Group relies on models to support a
broad range of business and risk management activities, including
informing business decisions and strategies, measuring and limiting
risk, valuing exposures (including the calculation of impairment),
conducting stress testing, assessing capital adequacy, supporting
new business acceptance and risk and reward evaluation, managing
client assets, and meeting reporting requirements.
Models are, by their nature, imperfect and incomplete
representations of reality because they rely on assumptions and
inputs, and so they may be subject to errors affecting the accuracy
of their outputs and/or misused. This may be exacerbated when
dealing with unprecedented scenarios, such as the COVID-19
pandemic, due to the lack of reliable historical reference points
and data. For instance, the quality of the data used in models
across the Group has a material impact on the accuracy and
completeness of its risk and financial metrics. Model errors or
misuse may result in (among other things) the Group making
inappropriate business decisions and/or inaccuracies or errors
being identified in the Group's risk management and regulatory
reporting processes. This could result in significant financial
loss, imposition of additional capital requirements, enhanced
regulatory supervision and reputational damage, all of which could
have a material adverse effect on the Group's business, results of
operations, financial condition and prospects.
For further details on the Group's approach to model risk, see
the model risk management and model risk performance sections.
vi) Conduct risk
Conduct risk is the risk of detriment to customers, clients,
market integrity, effective competition or the Group from the
inappropriate supply of financial services, including instances of
wilful or negligent misconduct. This risk could manifest itself in
a variety of ways:
a) Employee misconduct
The Group's businesses are exposed to risk from potential
non-compliance with its policies and standards and instances of
wilful and negligent misconduct by employees, all of which could
result in potential customer and client detriment, enforcement
action (including regulatory fines and/or sanctions), increased
operation and compliance costs, redress or remediation or
reputational damage which in turn could have a material adverse
effect on the Group's business, results of operations, financial
condition and prospects. Examples of employee misconduct which
could have a material adverse effect on the Group's business
include (i) employees improperly selling or marketing the Group's
products and services; (ii) employees engaging in insider trading,
market manipulation or unauthorised trading; or (iii) employees
misappropriating confidential or proprietary information belonging
to the Group, its customers or third parties. These risks may be
exacerbated in circumstances where the Group is unable to rely on
physical oversight and supervision of employees (such as during the
COVID-19 pandemic where employees have worked remotely).
b) Customer engagement
The Group must ensure that its customers, particularly those
that are vulnerable, are able to make well-informed decisions on
how best to use the Group's financial services and understand that
they are appropriately protected if something goes wrong. Poor
customer outcomes can result from the failure to: (i) communicate
fairly and clearly with customers; (ii) provide services in a
timely and fair manner; and (iii) undertake appropriate activity to
address customer detriment, including the adherence to regulatory
and legal requirements on complaint handling. The Group is at risk
of financial loss and reputational damage as a result.
c) Product design and review risk
Products and services must meet the needs of clients, customers,
markets and the Group throughout their lifecycle, However, there is
a risk that the design and review of the Group's products and
services fail to reasonably consider and address potential or
actual negative outcomes, which may result in customer detriment,
enforcement action (including regulatory fines and/or sanctions),
redress and remediation and reputational damage. Both the design
and review of products and services are a key area of focus for
regulators and the Group, and this focus is set to continue in
2021.
d) Financial crime
The Group may be adversely affected if it fails to effectively
mitigate the risk that third parties or its employees facilitate,
or that its products and services are used to facilitate, financial
crime (money laundering, terrorist financing, breaches of economic
and financial sanctions, bribery and corruption, and the
facilitation of tax evasion). UK and US regulations covering
financial institutions continue to focus on combating financial
crime. Failure to comply may lead to enforcement action by the
Group's regulators, including severe penalties, which may have a
material adverse effect on the Group's business, financial
condition and prospects.
e) Regulatory focus on culture and accountability
Regulators around the world continue to emphasise the importance
of culture and personal accountability and enforce the adoption of
adequate internal reporting and whistleblowing procedures to help
to promote appropriate conduct and drive positive outcomes for
customers, colleagues, clients and markets. The requirements and
expectations of the UK Senior Managers Regime, Certification Regime
and Conduct Rules have reinforced additional accountabilities for
individuals across the Group with an increased focus on governance
and rigour. Failure to meet these requirements and expectations may
lead to regulatory sanctions, both for the individuals and the
Group.
For further details on the Group's approach to conduct risk, see
the conduct risk management and conduct risk performance
sections.
vii) Reputation risk
Reputation risk is the risk that an action, transaction,
investment, event, decision or business relationship will reduce
trust in the Group's integrity and/or competence.
Any material lapse in standards of integrity, compliance,
customer service or operating efficiency may represent a potential
reputation risk. Stakeholder expectations constantly evolve, and so
reputation risk is dynamic and varies between geographical regions,
groups and individuals. A risk arising in one business area can
have an adverse effect upon the Group's overall reputation and any
one transaction, investment or event (in the perception of key
stakeholders) can reduce trust in the Group's integrity and
competence. The Group's association with sensitive topics and
sectors has been, and in some instances continues to be, an area of
concern for stakeholders, including (i) the financing of, and
investments in, businesses which operate in sectors that are
sensitive because of their relative carbon intensity or local
environmental impact; (ii) potential association with human rights
violations (including combating modern slavery) in the Group's
operations or supply chain and by clients and customers; and (iii)
the financing of businesses which manufacture and export military
and riot control goods and services.
Reputation risk could also arise from negative public opinion
about the actual, or perceived, manner in which the Group conducts
its business activities, or the Group's financial performance, as
well as actual or perceived practices in banking and the financial
services industry generally. Modern technologies, in particular
online social media channels and other broadcast tools that
facilitate communication with large audiences in short time frames
and with minimal costs, may significantly enhance and accelerate
the distribution and effect of damaging information and
allegations. Negative public opinion may adversely affect the
Group's ability to retain and attract customers, in particular,
corporate and retail depositors, and to retain and motivate staff,
and could have a material adverse effect on the Group's business,
results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
In addition to the above, reputation risk has the potential to
arise from operational issues or conduct matters which cause
detriment to customers, clients, market integrity, effective
competition or the Group (see "iv) Operational risk" above).
For further details on the Group's approach to reputation risk,
see the reputation risk management and reputation risk performance
sections.
viii) Legal risk and legal, competition and regulatory
matters
The Group conducts activities in a highly regulated global
market which exposes it and its employees to legal risk arising
from (i) the multitude of laws and regulations that apply to the
businesses it operates, which are highly dynamic, may vary between
jurisdictions, and are often unclear in their application to
particular circumstances especially in new and emerging areas; and
(ii) the diversified and evolving nature of the Group's businesses
and business practices. In each case, this exposes the Group and
its employees to the risk of loss or the imposition of penalties,
damages or fines from the failure of members of the Group to meet
their respective legal obligations, including legal or contractual
requirements. Legal risk may arise in relation to any number of the
material existing and emerging risks identified above.
A breach of applicable legislation and/or regulations by the
Group or its employees could result in criminal prosecution,
regulatory censure, potentially significant fines and other
sanctions in the jurisdictions in which the Group operates. Where
clients, customers or other third parties are harmed by the Group's
conduct, this may also give rise to civil legal proceedings,
including class actions. Other legal disputes may also arise
between the Group and third parties relating to matters such as
breaches or enforcement of legal rights or obligations arising
under contracts, statutes or common law. Adverse findings in any
such matters may result in the Group being liable to third parties
or may result in the Group's rights not being enforced as
intended.
Details of legal, competition and regulatory matters to which
the Group is currently exposed are set out in Note 26. In addition
to matters specifically described in Note 26, the Group is engaged
in various other legal proceedings which arise in the ordinary
course of business. The Group is also subject to requests for
information, investigations and other reviews by regulators,
governmental and other public bodies in connection with business
activities in which the Group is, or has been, engaged.
The outcome of legal, competition and regulatory matters, both
those to which the Group is currently exposed and any others which
may arise in the future, is difficult to predict. In connection
with such matters, the Group may incur significant expense,
regardless of the ultimate outcome, and any such matters could
expose the Group to any of the following outcomes: substantial
monetary damages, settlements and/or fines; remediation of affected
customers and clients; other penalties and injunctive relief;
additional litigation; criminal prosecution; the loss of any
existing agreed protection from prosecution; regulatory
restrictions on the Group's business operations including the
withdrawal of authorisations; increased regulatory compliance
requirements or changes to laws or regulations; suspension of
operations; public reprimands; loss of significant assets or
business; a negative effect on the Group's reputation; loss of
confidence by investors, counterparties, clients and/or customers;
risk of credit rating agency downgrades; potential negative impact
on the availability and/or cost of funding and liquidity; and/or
dismissal or resignation of key individuals. In light of the
uncertainties involved in legal, competition and regulatory
matters, there can be no assurance that the outcome of a particular
matter or matters (including formerly active matters or those
arising after the date of this Annual Report) will not have a
material adverse effect on the Group's business, results of
operations, financial condition and prospects.
39 Related party transactions and Directors' remuneration
Related party transactions
Parties are considered to be related if one party has the
ability to control the other party or exercise significant
influence over the other party in making financial or operational
decisions, or one other party controls both.
Subsidiaries
Transactions between Barclays PLC and its subsidiaries meet the
definition of related party transactions. Where these are
eliminated on consolidation, they are not disclosed in the Group's
financial statements. Transactions between Barclays PLC and its
subsidiaries are fully disclosed in Barclays PLC's financial
statements. A list of the Group's principal subsidiaries is shown
in Note 34.
Associates, joint ventures and other entities
The Group provides banking services to its associates, joint
ventures and the Group pension funds (principally the UK Retirement
Fund), providing loans, overdrafts, interest and non-interest
bearing deposits and current accounts to these entities as well as
other services. Group companies also provide investment management
and custodian services to the Group pension schemes. All of these
transactions are conducted on the same terms as third party
transactions. Summarised financial information for the Group's
investments in associates and joint ventures is set out in Note
36.
Amounts included in the Group's financial statements, in
aggregate, by category of related party entity are as follows:
Associates Joint ventures Pension funds
GBPm GBPm GBPm
---------------------------------------------- ---------- -------------- -------------
For the year ended and as at 31 December 2020
Total income - 10 5
Credit impairment charges - - -
Operating expenses (26) - (1)
Total assets - 1,388 4
Total liabilities 66 - 69
------------------------------------------------ ---------- -------------- -------------
For the year ended and as at 31 December 2019
Total income - 12 5
Credit impairment charges - - -
Operating expenses (46) - -
Total assets - 1,303 3
Total liabilities - - 175
------------------------------------------------ ---------- -------------- -------------
Total liabilities includes derivatives transacted on behalf of
the pension funds of GBP13m (2019: GBP6m).
Key Management Personnel
Key Management Personnel are defined as those persons having
authority and responsibility for planning, directing and
controlling the activities of Barclays PLC (directly or indirectly)
and comprise the Directors and Officers of Barclays PLC, certain
direct reports of the Group Chief Executive and the heads of major
business units and functions.
The Group provides banking services to Key Management Personnel
and persons connected to them. Transactions during the year and the
balances outstanding were as follows:
Loans outstanding
----------------------------------- ----- -----
2020 2019
GBPm GBPm
----------------------------------- ----- -----
As at 1 January 7.2 7.2
Loans issued during the year(a) 2.3 4.8
Loan repayments during the year(b) (0.3) (4.8)
----------------------------------- ----- -----
As at 31 December 9.2 7.2
----------------------------------- ----- -----
Notes
a Includes loans issued to existing Key Management Personnel and
new or existing loans issued to newly appointed Key Management
Personnel.
b Includes loan repayments by existing Key Management Personnel
and loans to former Key Management Personnel.
No allowances for impairment were recognised in respect of loans
to Key Management Personnel (or any connected person).
Deposits outstanding
------------------------------------- ------ ------
2019 2018
GBPm GBPm
------------------------------------- ------ ------
As at 1 January 12.1 6.9
Deposits received during the year(a) 41.6 36.0
Deposits repaid during the year(b) (43.3) (30.8)
------------------------------------- ------ ------
As at 31 December 10.4 12.1
------------------------------------- ------ ------
Notes
a Includes deposits received from existing Key Management
Personnel and new or existing deposits received from newly
appointed Key Management Personnel.
b Includes deposits repaid by existing Key Management Personnel
and deposits of former Key Management Personnel.
Total commitments outstanding
Total commitments outstanding refers to the total of any undrawn
amounts on credit cards and/or overdraft facilities provided to Key
Management Personnel. Total commitments outstanding as at 31
December 2020 were GBP0.9m (2019: GBP0.8m).
All loans to Key Management Personnel (and persons connected to
them) were made in the ordinary course of business; were made on
substantially the same terms, including interest rates and
collateral, as those prevailing at the same time for comparable
transactions with other persons; and did not involve more than a
normal risk of collectability or present other unfavourable
features.
Remuneration of Key Management Personnel
Total remuneration awarded to Key Management Personnel below
represents the awards made to individuals that have been approved
by the Board Remuneration Committee as part of the latest
remuneration decisions, and is consistent with the approach adopted
for disclosures set out in the Directors' Remuneration Report.
Costs recognised in the income statement reflect the accounting
charge for the year included within operating expenses. The
difference between the values awarded and the recognised income
statement charge principally relates to the recognition of deferred
costs for prior year awards. Figures are provided for the period
that individuals met the definition of Key Management
Personnel.
2020 2019
GBPm GBPm
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- -------
Salaries and other short-term benefits 41.6 38.5
Pension costs - 0.1
Other long-term benefits 8.2 8.7
Share-based payments 13.2 13.4
Employer social security charges on emoluments 7.2 7.4
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- -------
Costs recognised for accounting purposes 70.2 68.1
Employer social security charges on emoluments (7.2) (7.4)
Other long-term benefits - difference between awards granted and costs recognised - (0.6)
Share-based payments - difference between awards granted and costs recognised 1.1 2.2
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- -------
Total remuneration awarded 64.1 62.3
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- -------
Disclosure required by the Companies Act 2006
The following information regarding the Barclays PLC Board of
Directors is presented in accordance with the Companies Act
2006:
2020 2019
GBPm GBPm
---------------------------- ---- ----
Aggregate emoluments(a) 8.4 8.5
Amounts paid under LTIPs(b) - 0.8
---------------------------- ---- ----
8.4 9.3
---------------------------- ---- ----
Notes
a The aggregate emoluments include amounts paid for the 2020
year. In addition, deferred share awards for 2020 with a total
value at grant of GBP0.6m (2019: GBP2m) will be made to James E
Staley and Tushar Morzaria which will only vest subject to meeting
certain conditions.
b No LTIP amounts were received by the Executive Directors in
2020 as the release of the first tranche of the 2017-2019 LTIP was
delayed from June 2020 to March 2021. The LTIP figure in the single
total figure table for Executive Directors' 2020 remuneration in
the Directors' Remuneration Report relates to the 2018 - 2020 LTIP
cycle.
There were no pension contributions paid to defined contribution
schemes on behalf of Directors (2019: GBPnil). There were no
notional pension contributions to defined contribution schemes.
As at 31 December 2020, there were no Directors accruing
benefits under a defined benefit scheme (2019: nil).
Directors' and Officers' shareholdings and options
The beneficial ownership of ordinary share capital of Barclays
PLC by all Directors and Officers of Barclays PLC (involving 26
persons) at 31 December 2020 amounted to 27,470,067 (2019:
22,789,126) ordinary shares of 25p each (0.16% of the ordinary
share capital outstanding).
As at 31 December 2020, Executive Directors and Officers of
Barclays PLC (involving 16 persons) held options to purchase a
total of 78,495 (2019: 40,428) Barclays PLC ordinary shares of 25p
each at a weighted average price of 101p under Sharesave.
Advances and credit to Directors and guarantees on behalf of
Directors
In accordance with Section 413 of the Companies Act 2006, the
total amount of advances and credits made available in 2020 to
persons who served as Directors during the year was GBP0.1m (2019:
GBP0.3m). The total value of guarantees entered into on behalf of
Directors during 2020 was GBPnil (2019: GBPnil).
Directors' responsibility statement
The Directors have responsibility for ensuring that the Company
and the Group keep accounting records which disclose with
reasonable accuracy the financial position of the Company and the
Group and which enable them to ensure that the accounts comply with
the Companies Act 2006.
The Directors are also responsible for preparing a Strategic
Report, Directors' Report, Directors' Remuneration Report and
Corporate Governance Statement in accordance with applicable law
and regulations.
The Directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity
of the Annual Report and Financial statements as they appear on our
website. Legislation in the UK governing the preparation and
dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation
in other jurisdictions.
The Directors have a general responsibility for taking such
steps as are reasonably open to them to safeguard the assets of the
Group and to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities.
The Directors, whose names and functions are set out on pages 60
to 63, confirm to the best of their knowledge that:
(a) the financial statements, prepared in accordance with the
applicable set of accounting standards, give a true and fair view
of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss
of the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation
taken as a whole; and
(b) the management report, on pages 6 to 43, which is
incorporated in the Directors' Report, includes a fair review of
the development and performance of the business and the position of
the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation
taken as a whole, together with a description of the Principal
Risks and uncertainties that they face.
By order of the Board
Stephen Shapiro
Company Secretary
17 February 2021
Barclays PLC
Registered in England.
Company No. 48839
Forward-looking statements
This document contains certain forward-looking statements within
the meaning of Section 21E of the US Securities Exchange Act of
1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the US Securities Act of 1933,
as amended, with respect to the Group. Barclays cautions readers
that no forward-looking statement is a guarantee of future
performance and that actual results or other financial condition or
performance measures could differ materially from those contained
in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements
can be identified by the fact that they do not relate only to
historical or current facts. Forward-looking statements sometimes
use words such as 'may', 'will', 'seek', 'continue', 'aim',
'anticipate', 'target', 'projected', 'expect', 'estimate',
'intend', 'plan', 'goal', 'believe', 'achieve' or other words of
similar meaning.
Forward-looking statements can be made in writing but also may
be made verbally by members of the management of the Group
(including, without limitation, during management presentations to
financial analysts) in connection with this document. Examples of
forward-looking statements include, among others, statements or
guidance regarding or relating to the Group's future financial
position, income growth, assets, impairment charges, provisions,
business strategy, capital, leverage and other regulatory ratios,
capital distributions (including dividend payout ratios and
expected payment strategies), projected levels of growth in the
banking and financial markets, projected costs or savings, any
commitments and targets, estimates of capital expenditures, plans
and objectives for future operations, projected employee numbers,
IFRS impacts and other statements that are not historical fact. By
their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and
uncertainty because they relate to future events and
circumstances.
The forward-looking statements speak only as at the date on
which they are made. Forward-looking statements may be affected by:
changes in legislation; the development of standards and
interpretations under IFRS, including evolving practices with
regard to the interpretation and application of accounting and
regulatory standards; the outcome of current and future legal
proceedings and regulatory investigations; future levels of conduct
provisions; the policies and actions of governmental and regulatory
authorities; the Group's ability along with government and other
stakeholders to manage and mitigate the impacts of climate change
effectively; geopolitical risks; and the impact of competition. In
addition, factors including (but not limited to) the following may
have an effect: capital, leverage and other regulatory rules
applicable to past, current and future periods; UK, US, Eurozone
and global macroeconomic and business conditions; the effects of
any volatility in credit markets; market related risks such as
changes in interest rates and foreign exchange rates; effects of
changes in valuation of credit market exposures; changes in
valuation of issued securities; volatility in capital markets;
changes in credit ratings of any entity within the Group or any
securities issued by such entities; direct and indirect impacts of
the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic; instability as a result of the
UK's exit from the European Union (EU), the effects of the EU-UK
Trade and Cooperation Agreement and the disruption that may
subsequently result in the UK and globally; the risk of
cyber-attacks, information or security breaches or technology
failures on the Group's business or operations; and the success of
future acquisitions, disposals and other strategic transactions. A
number of these influences and factors are beyond the Group's
control. As a result, the Group's actual financial position, future
results, capital distributions, capital, leverage or other
regulatory ratios or other financial and non-financial metrics or
performance measures may differ materially from the statements or
guidance set forth in the Group's forward-looking statements.
Additional risks and factors which may impact the Group's future
financial condition and performance are identified in our filings
with the SEC (including, without limitation, our Annual Report on
Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2020), which are
available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.
Subject to our obligations under the applicable laws and
regulations of any relevant jurisdiction, (including, without
limitation, the UK and the US), in relation to disclosure and
ongoing information, we undertake no obligation to update publicly
or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of
new information, future events or otherwise.
- Ends -
For further information, please contact :
Investor Relations Media Relations
Chris Manners Tom Hoskin
+ +44 (0) 20 7773 2136 +44 (0) 20 7116 4755
About Barclays
Barclays is a British universal bank. We are diversified by
business, by different types of customer and client, and geography.
Our businesses include consumer banking and payments operations
around the world, as well as a top-tier, full service, global
corporate and investment bank, all of which are supported by our
service company which provides technology, operations and
functional services across the Group.
For further information about Barclays, please visit our website
www.barclays.com
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