Barclays, Base Prospectus 2006

Risk Factors
- 175 - Part H
Description of Barclays Bank PLC
DESCRIPTION OF BARCLAYS BANK PLC
Information about risk factors relating to the Issuer is contained in Part B of this Base Prospectus.
Information about Barclays Bank PLC
The Issuer is a public limited company under the laws of England and is registered in England and
Wales under number 1026167. The liability of the members of the Issuer is limited. It has its registered
head office at 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP (England). Its telephone number is +44 (0) 20 7116
1000. Barclays Bank PLC was established by Royal Charter on 1st June, 1836 as the Colonial Bank.
The Issuer was reincorporated on 15th September, 1925 under The Colonial Bank Act 1925 and on
1st October, 1971 was registered as a company limited by shares under the Companies Acts 1948 to
1967. On 27th November, 1981 it became a private company for the purposes of the Companies Act
1980. Pursuant to The Barclays Bank Act 1984, on 1st January, 1985, the Issuer was re-registered as a
public limited company and its legal name was changed from "Barclays Bank International Limited" to
"Barclays Bank PLC". Various divisions of the Issuer act under commercial names from time to time,
which include "Barclays Capital", "Barclays Global Investors" and "Barclaycard".
The Issuer and its subsidiary undertakings (taken together, the "Group") (see the list of principal
subsidiaries of Barclays Bank PLC below) is a UK-based major global financial services provider
engaged in retail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealth management and
investment management services. The Issuer has a very large international presence in Europe, the
USA, Africa and Asia. In terms of market capitalisation the Issuer is one of the top ten largest banks in
the world. 14 The Issuer operates in over 60 countries. The Group had an average number of employees
worldwide of 92,800 (excluding agency staff) during the year 2005.
The whole of the issued ordinary share capital of the Issuer is beneficially owned by Barclays PLC,
which is the ultimate holding company of the Group and one of the largest financial services companies
in the world by market capitalisation.
The Issuer has obtained ratings for the Issuer’s obligations issued pursuant to the Programme. Such
ratings being at the date of the Base Prospecuts as follows: the short term unsecured obligations of the
Issuer are rated A-1 + by Standard & Poor's, P-1 by Moody's and F1+ by Fitch Ratings Limited and the
long-term obligations of the Issuer are rated AA by Standard & Poor's, Aa1 by Moody's and AA+ by
Fitch Ratings Limited. The rating of the bank describes the risk relating to the ability of Barcalys Bank
PLC to cover its liabilities as issuer of notes. The lower the ratings awarded on the applicable rating
chart of the relevant rating agency, the higher the rating agency assesses the risk of liabilities being not
or being not timely repaid.
Barclays PLC and the Issuer have applied International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") from
1 January, 2004, with the exception of the standards relating to financial instruments (IAS 32 and IAS
39) and insurance contracts (IFRS 4) which were applied only with effect from 1 January, 2005.
Therefore, in the Issuer Annual Report, the impacts of adopting IAS 32, IAS 39 and IFRS 4 are not
included in the 2004 comparatives in accordance with First-time Adoption of International Financial
Reporting Standards (IFRIS 1). The results for 2005 are therefore not entirely comparable to those for
2004 in affected areas.
Based on the audited financial information for the year ended 31 December, 2005, the Group had total
assets of £924,170 million (2004: £538,300 million), total net loans and advances 15 of £300,001 million
(2004: £343,041 million), total deposits 16 of £313,811 million (2004: £328,516 million), and total
shareholders’ equity of £24,243 million (2004: £16,849 million) (including minority interests of £1,578
million (2004: £211 million)). The profit before tax of the Group for the year ended
31 December, 2005 was £5,311 million (2004: £4,589 million) after charging an impairment loss on
14 Source: Bloomberg; also see page 183 of this Base Prospectus.
15 Total net loans and advances include balances relating to both banks and customer accounts.
16 Total deposits include deposits from banks and customer accounts.