Barclays has agreed to pay a $6.4 million settlement over U.S. charges alleging that the British lender had hired friends and families of foreign officials in Asia to win business.
The settlement includes a $1.5 million civil fine and $4.8 million of disgorgement and interest, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which highlighted its alleged hiring activities in China, Hong Kong and South Korea.
117 individuals were hired between April 2009 and April 2013 and referred by or connected to government officials or non-government clients with job placements in permanent roles, graduate programs, internship programs or unofficial «work experience» programs.
In addition, SEC noted that Barclays lacked internal controls to prevent bribery related to these «relationship hires» with some employees falsifying records to conceal the source of job requests and their reason. In one case, a Hong Kong-based Barclays banker allegedly told colleagues that business could be secured in a «quid pro quo» arrangement should a job be secured for the daughter of a Korean bank executive.
