Barclays faces fine for breaching market listing rules - UPDATE

Barclays has confirmed reports that it is facing a 50m-pound fine for allegedly breaching market listing rules over its capital raisings.The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is seeking the penalty against the lender for allegedly failing to disclose enough details to the stock market about its £11.8bn capital-raisings which allowed the bank to avoid a government bailout in 2008.Barclays said it would contest the FCA verdict in a prospectus accompanying its £5.8bn rights issue, published on Monday afternoon.The prospectus showed the UK regulator filed warning notices against Barclays late last week, accusing the lender of failing to disclose £322m in advisory fees payable to Qatari interests.Qatar investors had agreed to take a multibillion pound stake in Barclays in 2008, it said."While the Warning Notices consider that Barclays and Barclays Bank believed at the time that there should be at least some unspecified and undetermined value to be derived from the agreements, they state that the primary purpose of the agreements was not to obtain advisory services but to make additional payments, which would not be disclosed, for the Qatari participation in the capital raisings," Barclays said."The Warning Notices conclude that Barclays and Barclays Bank were in breach of certain disclosure-related Listing Rules and Barclays was also in breach of Listing Principle 3 (the requirement to act with integrity towards holders and potential holders of the Company's shares). In this regard, the FCA considers that Barclays and Barclays Bank acted recklessly. The financial penalty in the Warning Notices against the group is £50m. However, Barclays and Barclays Bank continue to contest the findings."The Serious Fraud Office and US authorities are also examining the Qatari capital-raising issue.The news follows a series of scandals including a £291m fine for its role in the manipulation of the interbank borrowing rate LIBOR.Barclays has put aside billions of pounds to compensate customers who were mis-sold payment protection insurance and interest rate swaps.RD