Publications
Partners
London - Barclays, the British bank which Bob Diamond led until his surprise resignation on Tuesday, is a major international player which has come a long way from its 17th century origins in the City of London.
Perhaps the most telling indicator of the scale of Barclays' global ambition is the bank's sponsorship of English football's Premier League, watched by hundreds of millions of people around the world.
The bank has over 4 000 branches in around more than 50 countries and has embarked on significant expansions in recent years.
Barclays began developing as an international player in the 1980s and in 1986, it became the first British bank to have its shares listed on the New York and Tokyo stock exchanges.
Barclays Capital, its investment banking arm, was established in 1997, with Diamond building it up into one of the sector's biggest players.
A major step forward was the $1.75bn acquisition of Lehman Brothers' North American investment banking and capital markets businesses at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.
This rare opportunity, overseen by Diamond, gave Barclays a major presence on Wall Street virtually overnight.
The bank has also expanded in emerging markets in recent years, stepping up its presence in countries like Indonesia and Russia.
It has said it wants to be one of the world's top five banks -- rubbing shoulders with giants like Citigroup. It currently stands 42nd in the world by market capitalisation, worth $32 billion.
Diamond's personal role in building up the investment banking side of the business was particularly significant, analysts say.
The impressive growth of this branch of the bank to the retail and commercial side was thought to be a key reason for Diamond securing the job of chief executive.
"During the last decade he was very successful, building up the investment banking bit of the bank," said Giorgio Questa, a banking expert and visiting professor at City University London's Cass Business School.
"There's no doubt in anybody's mind that he made a lot of smart moves."
Questa added that, unlike other British-based banks such as bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays did not need to take any public money to remain afloat during the financial crisis.
However, Barclays sought extra funds to shore up the books from investors in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. It would also have benefitted along with other banks from state guarantees and liquidity from the Bank of England.
Barclays slumped into the red in the first quarter of this year, suffering a net loss of 337 million in the three months to March, compared with a profit of 1.24 billion in the first quarter of 2011.
The results included an accounting charge of 2.62 billion on the value of its outstanding debt and a provision of 300 million to compensate clients who were mis-sold payment protection insurance in Britain, along with other lenders.
After those results, 27 percent of shareholders in April declined to back Barclays' pay awards to bosses.
The vote did not affect Diamond's pay -- he received 17.7 million in salary, bonus, benefits and long-term share awards for his work in 2011.
At the time, he pledged to waive a large chunk of that if future performance did not improve.
In the end, it was not the wage issue which prompted Diamond's resignation but a scandal over inter-bank rate-fixing.
He said he was falling on his sword to protect a bank which he had worked hard to build up.
"The external pressure placed on Barclays has reached a level that risks damaging the franchise -- I cannot let that happen," he said.
British finance minister George Osborne told BBC radio he hoped Diamond's resignation was "a first step towards a new culture of responsibility in British banking."
But others warned the picture may not be that simple.
Robert Peston, the BBC's business editor, described Barclays as "one of the most complex" banks in the world, adding that Diamond was "credited with creating the sprawling, modern form of Barclays."
