LONDON (Reuters) – British bank Barclays disclosed on Monday around a 450 million pound ($591.80 million) loss on mishandled structured products and said this meant it would have to delay a share buyback.
The lender said securities offered and sold by its structured products business for a period of around a year had exceeded the registered amount for sale, meaning they would have to be bought back at their original purchase price.
The 450 million pounds loss figure was Barclays’ “best estimate at this time”, the bank said, cutting its core capital ratio down to the middle of its 13-14% target range.
Barclays said it would delay a planned 1 billion pound share buyback until the second quarter, adding that it had commissioned an independent review of the matter. Regulators are also conducting inquiries and requesting information, the bank said.
Shares in the bank were down 3% in early trading.
Barclays’ wider investment bank had previously proved a stellar performer for the group over recent years, helping it post a record annual profit for 2021.
Analysts at Shore Capital said in a note that the bank appeared to be “tripping over its shoelaces”.
While the current share buyback has only been delayed, the error could reduce future capital distributions to shareholders by the bank, the note added.
($1 = 0.7604 pounds)
(Reporting by Iain Withers; editing by John O’Donnell)
