Barclays are coming under considerable scrutiny as a result of two unrelated sets of circumstances.  Nerves are frayed amongst bankers, even the big ones!

FT.com / Companies / Financial services – Anxious market catches Barclays short of £1.6bn

The trigger for the crisis of confidence was the unexpected
resignation two weeks ago of Edward Cahill, the Barclays investment
banker responsible for creating vehicles such as Cairn High Grade
Funding.  Although a relatively junior banker, Mr Cahill’s departure sparked rumours about possible losses at the bank.

Nevertheless, confidence took such a knock that, after a technical
glitch disrupted the money markets on Wednesday afternoon, Barclays
found it had a £1.6bn shortfall in its accounts with the Bank of
England and had no choice but to borrow from the central bank’s
emergency facility.

Money market participants also suggested that Barclays’ need for cash may have been an unfortunate accident explainable by the fact that more senior staff were on holiday.

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