New questions are emerging over Barclays’ rescue fundraising in 2008 as the Serious Fraud Office and the Financial Conduct Authority extend their inquiries into the deal.
Court documents filed in a civil case related to the £7.3bn injection from Middle Eastern investors have drawn attention to a separate transaction at around the same time.
Barclays lent £2bn to Qatar just weeks after the announcement of the role played by the Gulf state’s principal investment vehicle in the bank bailout. The debt component of Qatar Holding’s investment was for the same sum of £2bn.
Was that money just round tripped? Be fascinating to know…..
The point being that the bank needed capital. It had pots and pots of dosh, of deposits. But it needed capital.
So, lend some of the deposits which then come back as capital…..terribly naughty if that’s what they did do.