"Allegations regarding Barclays and the defence industry – setting the record straight"

Barclays is aware of allegations made about our company investing in the defence sector.Allegations that Barclays is an investor in the defence industry are simply untrue. Barclays is not an investor in the defence industry. These allegations may stem from our historic ownership of a business formerly called BGI (Barclays Global Investors), an asset manager which did have significant investment positions in defence companies. Barclays sold this company in 2009, and has no on-going interest, financial or otherwise, in BGI. Specific claims that Barclays is an investor in a defence company called Elbit Systems Ltd are also untrue. Barclays is not an investor in Elbit Systems Ltd. Despite this fact, Barclays’ name may appear on the share register of this company. Barclays holds a very small number of shares in Elbit Systems Ltd on behalf of clients and to hedge exposure against customer facing transactions. Currently such holdings amount to less than 0.2% of the total shares in that company. Holding shares in companies on behalf of clients, as well as maintaining appropriate hedging strategies, is normal practice for banks, but does not equate to an investment made by Barclays. Finally Barclays has a very clear policy in respect of our business relationship with the defence industry...Thank you.