to a 450 million pound loss over mishandled structured-note sales. It seems to be a clerical error. Barclays registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about $21 billion of structured products but ended up exceeding that cap by roughly $15 billion. It now has to let investors sell back the excess notes at their issue price, resulting in a loss. The hit to common equity Tier 1 capital should be about 29 basis points – enough to delay the company’s share buyback programme.
The loss is embarrassing for new Chief Executive C. S. Venkatakrishnan, who was group chief risk officer at the time of the 2019 snafu. But the main effect is to underline the volatility and occasional blowups inherent in running a giant investment banking and trading business. The hit is equivalent to 11% of 2021 earnings in that division, which accounted for almost 60% of the group’s total. Barclays trades at roughly half its tangible book value, compared with 80% for retail-focused peers.