Barclays (UK)

Barclays is one of the UK's leading banking groups. A new management team successfully restored the company to full health after a rough ride through the 1990s. That decade started with a recession which hit Barclays hard. The bank reacted with an inflexible new corporate strategy, but this arguably created even more problems. Barclays' low point came in 1999 with an embarrassing struggle to find a new chief executive and persistent takeover rumours. By 2003 however those problems had been put firmly in the past and the group began re-establishing an international presence with purchases in Spain and South Africa. In 2007, Barclays agreed terms of a E67bn merger with Dutch banking giant ABN Amro, but was subsequently beaten to that prize in a bidding war against a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland. It was to prove a lucky escape, as the purchase of ABN Amro subsequently came close to destroying its buyers. Barclays took advantage of the turmoil within the banking industry in late 2008 to snap up the substantial and well-respected investment banking division of failed Wall Street giant Lehman Brothers for a bargain price.

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Barclays website

Woolwich	Barclays Global Investors
Barclays Business Banking	Barclaycard
Personal Banking	Barclays Capital
Barclays Wealth	iShares

Absa South Africa	Barclaycard US
Barclays Spain	Entercard Scandinavia

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