Barclays Bank CEO John Varley visits Dubai to mark the 30th anniversary of Barclays in the U.A.E.

Notes and media contacts

Barclays Bank PLC. is a UK-based financial services group, with a large international presence in Europe, the USA, Africa, Middle East and Asia. It is engaged primarily in banking, investment banking and investment management. In terms of market capitalisation, Barclays is one of the largest financial services companies in the world.

Barclays has been involved in banking for over 300 years and operates in over 60 countries with more than 111,300 permanent employees (including 32,500 at Absa). For the half year ended 30th June 2005, the group achieved a pre-tax profit of £2,690 million, up nine per cent on the same period in 2004.

About Barclays in the UAE
Barclays has been present in the United Arab Emirates for 30 years where it operates three distinct strategic business units covering the Middle East and North Africa region:

1. Barclays Wealth Management comprising Private and Premier Banking

Private Banking
The Private Bank recently expanded its Middle East team, providing outstanding personal service and world class expertise to help its clients manage, protect and grow their assets. The team is headed by William Oullin, Barclays Private Bank Chairman.

Barclays International Premier
Barclays International Premier in the UAE provides independent advice and personal service to clients with assets in the range $200,000 to $42 million. Unlike most other Premier banking services, it gives access to hundreds of investment solutions from the best investment managers worldwide without simply "pushing" a limited range of products. This gives clients the benefit of services (previously only available to the largest private and institutional investors). The UAE team comprises some 20 Relationship Managers based in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and is headed by David Inglesfield. The team recently launched a range of multi manager portfolios for U.A.E. personal customers that provides access to professional investment managers who are usually restricted to large institutional investors dealing with billions of dollars.

2. Barclays Commercial and Retail Banking
Barclays Commercial Banking offers a wide spectrum of customised solutions to meet the needs of its customers. This ranges from vanilla trade finance requirements such as letters of credit and guarantees to more complex products such as commodity financing, acquisition financing and structured financing packages for specific sectors such as property. The solutions provided by Barclays Commercial Banking are tailored, and can be rapidly customised to meet the evolving needs of its growing customer base. In cognisance of the strong trade and investment linkages within the Gulf and North African region, the Barclays Commercial banking team has developed its regional hub in the UAE and as a result is able to offer a seamless and integrated offering across the Middle East and North Africa. The operation also includes Retail. The team is headed by Mark Petchell for the UAE and Saleem Sheikh for the Middle East and North Africa.

3. Barclays Capital
Barclays Capital is the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC. In January 2005, Barclays Capital received recognition from two of the finance industry's most prestigious publications by being named IFR magazine's 'Bank of the Year' and Risk magazine's 'Derivatives House of the Year'. With a distinctive business model, Barclays Capital provides large corporates, government and institutional clients with solutions to their financing and risk management needs. In the Middle East, Barclays Capital is licensed to operate from the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), having opened its office in the landmark Gate Building on 3 July 2005. Since spring 2004, Barclays Capital has significantly expanded the resources devoted to the Middle East, bringing the firm's expertise in debt financing and risk management to the region. The Barclays Capital team in the Middle East & North Africa is headed by Nicholas Hegarty.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Florence Goodman
Head of Public Relations and Corporate Affairs - UAE
Barclays Bank PLC
Tel: +9714 362 6785
GSM: +97150 651 0871

Mira Sadek
Senior Account Executive
Impact Porter Novelli
Tel: + 9714 3304030 x 412
GSM: + 97150 644 3278

For more information about Barclays PLC., please visit www.barclays.com.

For further information about Barclays Capital, please visit www.barclayscapital.com