The UK’s financial watchdog plans to hit Barclays with a £50 million fine after it failed to inform the market and its shareholders about £322 million worth of fees paid to certain Qatari investors.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that, during the height of the financial crisis, the bank did not disclose arrangements made in June and October of 2008 as part of its capital raisings

Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the regulator, described the capital raise as “reckless” and said the move “lacked integrity”.

A Barclays spokesperson said that the bank has referred the findings of the Regulatory Decisions Committee to the Upper Tribunal for reconsideration.

The Upper Tribunal is to decide whether or not to uphold the FCA's decision and if the authority should take any further actions beyond the multi-million-pound penalty.

“There was no legitimate reason or excuse for failing to disclose these matters, certainly no basis for doing so because of the financial crisis,” said Stewart. “Due transparency is always critical to financial markets, especially in times of market or financial stress. These findings by the FCA will now be considered by the Upper Tribunal.”

The announcement comes a month after Barclays agreed to pay $361 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over charges relating to over-issuance of securities.

The US agency said it charged the bank in connection with the unregistered sale of an “unprecedented” amount of securities because of a failure to roll out internal controls to track these transactions in real-time.

FStech has approached Barclays for comment.

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