Oct 15, 2019
Former Barclays chiefs ‘scared to death’ of bailout prospect
The former chief executives of Barclays were "Scared to death" at the prospect of a UK taxpayer bailout and "Paranoid" about losing their jobs in 2008, as the bank sought a second emergency fundraising to secure its future, a court has heard. Roger Jenkins, nicknamed "Big Dog" by his Barclays' colleagues and a defendant in a high-profile fraud trial at London's Old Bailey, joked in October 2008 that John Varley, the bank's chief executive at the time, was "Scared to death that the government turn up tomorrow morning". In the dock with Mr Jenkins, who previously headed Barclays' Middle Eastern practice, is Tom Kalaris, who led the bank's wealth division, and Richard Boath, the former head of European financial institutions for its investment bank. Barclays turned twice to investors from the Middle East and beyond that year - once in June and again in October. The Qataris contributed a total of about £4bn across the two fundraisings, which raised a total of £11.2bn to avoid a bailout that Barclays' board felt would come with restrictive strings attached around paying "Dividends, operational flexibility and executive compensation", the court heard.
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