Introduction

Barclays Bank PLC and its subsidiaries, including Barclays Bank Ireland PLC (together, “Barclays”) comprise a multi-service financial institution that engages in a wide variety of activities in relation to multiple products and services, with a broad and diverse client base.

This document provides Barclays’ clients with a summary of its internal Conflicts of Interest (“COI”) Policy.

Overview of Barclays COI arrangements

Identifying and managing COIs is fundamental to Barclays and the conduct of our business, our relationships with clients and the markets in which we operate. Barclays takes all appropriate steps to implement organisational and administrative arrangements designed to identify and prevent or manage COIs.

Barclays has a COI Policy which, together with related procedures, requires employees to:

• identify and escalate potential or actual COIs; 
• assess COI risks and controls;
• implement control arrangements that will manage or prevent COIs; and 
• record the general nature and/or sources of COIs.

Barclays has implemented governance and oversight arrangements in relation to COIs and annually reviews its COI Policy.

More details related to Barclays’ COI Policy are available upon request.

COI Identification

Barclays’ employees are required to identify and escalate potential or actual COIs. For the purposes of identifying client related COIs, we consider a COI to be a situation in which:

1. Barclays ⁄ Client Conflict: where Barclays has an interest which is actually or potentially distinct from, incompatible with, or competes with the interest of a client; or 
2. Client ⁄ Client Conflict: where a client has an interest which is actually or potentially distinct from, incompatible with, or competes with the interest of another client; or 
3. Employee ⁄ Client Conflict: where an employee has a business or personal interest which is actually or potentially distinct from, incompatible with, or competes with the interest of a client.

As new and/or evolving COIs are identified, the risk must be assessed and appropriate action must be taken to ensure the COI risk is mitigated. Barclays keeps a record of material COIs including the general nature and source of the COI.

COI Management

Barclays maintains and operates organisational, procedural and administrative arrangements designed to manage and control COIs that arise in the course of its business. Following its risk and control assessment, Barclays will determine whether to manage the COI using COI controls or modify or cease the activity concerned or decline to act.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of controls that Barclays may consider using, either individually or in any combination, in order to mitigate COI risk:

• Effective procedures to prevent or control the exchange of information;
• Clear desk practices; 
• Permanent information barriers – physical and/or procedural/systems/processes;
• Ad hoc information barriers – physical and/or procedural/systems/processes;
• Sharing of information with group entities, provided this is not in breach of information barriers;
• Segregation of supervision/reporting lines;
• Appropriate and/or separated remuneration/incentives structures;
• Segregation of duties;
• Preventing or limiting sources of inappropriate influence;
• Client consent/waiver;
• Restricted list policies;
• Procedures for sequencing of activities.

In particular:

Client Disclosure

In accordance with applicable law and regulation, Barclays may disclose the existence of a COI where there is a legal, regulatory or other conflict management requirement to do so. We will also consider client disclosure as a COI management control but we will not place over-reliance on use of disclosures to manage COIs.

Ceasing/Declining to act

We may cease/decline to act for a client in cases where we believe the COI cannot otherwise be managed.

Annual Review of COIs and Governance

Barclays reviews its COI Policy annually. COI risk and control assessments are reviewed annually and updates to Barclays COI records, including the general nature and sources of conflicts of interest, are made where appropriate.

Barclays has implemented a COI governance structure that facilitates the oversight and, as necessary, the appropriate escalation of COI risk(s) to the appropriate governance body and reviews the ongoing effectiveness of Barclays’ COI control environment.