Barclays Changes with the Change in Uk Gdp

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Barclays Plc There are many decisions that Barclays took according to the change in economic growth. When the global financial crisis began, Barclays avoided direct equity investment from the UK Government because it thought that maintaining its independence from the Government was in the best interests of its shareholders. They would have done this to make sure that they do not lose any investment during the tough financial crisis period. It also believed that independence would enable it to take advantage of opportunities that would arise in the crisis. This would therefore give them a competitive advantage as other banks preferred taking help from the government. Throughout the years, at times, the executive management and Board of Barclays felt under restriction, not only from the unstable markets but also from its stakeholders, such as the government. Barclays first raised an additional £4.5 billion of capital in July 2008, then Barclays committed to obtain additional funds from private investors, and to sell some of its subsidiaries for $13.5 billion. This would have helped the Bank from being influenced by the government and to reduce the amount of complaints from employees and shareholders as influences from different stakeholders would cause conflicts during decision making. However, the crisis did bring a unique opportunity to Barclays. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the US. The US Government, surprisingly, decided not to support Lehman Brothers which therefore went into bankruptcy in September 2008. Barclays had initially tried to acquire the whole of Lehman but was unable to agree on a few points made from the authorities. In late September 2008, however, Barclays acquired parts of Lehman, providing the investment bank with a
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