LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Britain's accounting watchdog saidon Friday it had dropped its investigation into PwC'spreparation of compliance reports for Barclays CapitalSecurities.
Barclays was fined 1.1 million pounds in January 2011 forfailing to segregate customer money over a period of eight yearsand the Financial Reporting Council opened a probe into thebank's auditor PwC at the end of 2011.
The investigation covered PwC's reports for the FinancialServices Authority on how Barclays Capital Securities wascomplying with FSA rules on protecting client money from Dec. 12001 to Dec. 29, 2009.
The FRC said in a statement there was no realistic prospectthat an independent tribunal would back the watchdog.
"Consequently, no further action will be taken and the casewill be closed," the FRC said in a statement.
PwC, one of the world's "Big Four" accounting firms, said ithad cooperated fully with the FRC and was pleased theinvestigation was now closed.
"This confirms our view that there was no case to answer,"PwC said in a statement.
Barclays (BARC)