Saturday 29 February 2020

'Big Dog' and the 'omnipotent sheikh' - how #Qatar saved Barclays - Reuters

'Big Dog' and the 'omnipotent sheikh' - how Qatar saved Barclays - Reuters:

When Roger Jenkins was asked to help Barclays avoid a state bailout at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, he was expecting a bonus not a prosecution for his efforts.

More than a decade later, Jenkins and former Barclays colleagues Richard Boath and Tom Kalaris, were unanimously acquitted by a jury on Friday in a case that revealed how the British banking giant secured a 4 billion pound ($5.2 billion) investment from Qatar.

With its survival at risk, Barclays was relying on Jenkins’ persuasiveness and personal relationship with Qatar’s then prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani.

But the tiny emirate, which has punched above its weight for years after the discovery of oil and gas, was playing hardball. Barclays’ response was to pursue a deal which Jenkins conceded during his trial was optically “close to the line”.

No comments:

Post a Comment