Barclays fined £38m for putting clients' money 'at risk'

Barclays has been fined a record £38m by the City regulator for failing to keep its clients' money separate from its own.

The fine comes three years after Barclays paid out £1.1m for a similar issue.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the bank's investment arm had put £16.5bn of clients' money "at risk" between November 2007 and January 2012.

Barclays said it did not profit from the issue and no customers lost out.

"Clients risked incurring extra costs, lengthy delays or losing their assets if Barclays had become insolvent," the FCA said.

And FCA director of markets David Lawton said safeguarding client assets was "key" to maintaining market confidence.

"Barclays lack of focus on the rules was unacceptable," he added.

Barclays, which

Bob Diamond in Talks to Buy Stake in Union Bank

Atlas Mara, the African investment vehicle of former Barclays boss, Bob Diamond is in talks to buy a $275 million stake in Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN), a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. Lagos-based UBN was established as Colonial Bank in 1917, and from 1925 until the 1970s was owned by Barclays, the British bank that Diamond led before he was ousted two years ago. UBN's market capitalisation is about $850 million. Atlas Mara has to make a decision on whether to buy the minority stake in UBN by Sunday.

According to Reuters, Atlas Mara and UBN declined to comment. Atlas Mara said in a prospectus published last month for the relisting of its shares in London that

Barclays accused of 'dark pool' fraud

A fraud lawsuit against Barclays in the United States has been filed by the New York attorney general.

The lawsuit alleges the bank falsified documents and misrepresented benefits it was offering to big institutional clients, including pension funds.

It relates to the bank's "dark pool" trading operations, which allow clients to trade large blocks of shares while keeping prices private.

Barclays said it was taking the allegations "very seriously".

Shares in the bank fell more than