Barclays set aside £500 million yesterday to pay expected fines for its alleged role in attempting to rig foreign currency markets but analysts immediately warned that the bank would have to pay far more to draw a line under the scandal.
“This is just their first stab at it,” said Shailesh Raikundlia, an Espírito Santo analyst, who estimated that the final cost would be £2 billion to £3 billion.
Barclays, which has been dubbed the most frequently fined bank in Britain because of past misconduct, is believed to be facing penalties from as many as six regulators but has so far earmarked cash for only two of the investigations closest to settlement.
Tushar Morzaria, the bank’s finance director, hinted that there could be more pain