Introduction to Barclays May 2006

Background to Barclays Bank Barclays is a UK-based financial services group, with a very large international presence in Europe, the USA, Africa 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 120,000 permanent employees (including 33,500 at Absa). For the year ended 31st December 2005, the group achieved a pre-tax profit of £5,280 million, up fifteen per cent on 2004. In 2005 Barclays paid approximately £3 billion in taxes.

What Barclays Do Barclays main operations are: UB Banking Wealth Management International Retail and Commercial Banking Barclaycard Woolwich Barclays Capital Barclays Global Investors

Main Operations UB Banking Provides solutions to Barclays UK retail and business banking customers. Customers are served through a variety of channels comprising: the branch network, cash machines, telephone banking, online banking and relationship managers. It is managed through two business areas, UK Retail Banking and UK Business Banking. In UK Retail Banking there are 14 million retail customers, including current accounts, savings, mortgages, and general insurance. Local Business provides banking services to 592,000 customers, UK Premier provides banking, investment products and advice to 286,000 affluent customers. UK Business Banking provides relationship banking to larger and medium-sized businesses.183,000 customers are served by a network of relationship and industry sector specialist managers.

Main Operations Wealth Management Barclays Wealth Management is one of the leading Wealth Managers in the UK. It serves affluent, high net worth personal and corporate clients, primarily in the UK and continental Europe, providing private banking, offshore banking, stockbroking, financial planning and asset management services. Businesses include: Barclays Financial Planning – one of the largest financial advisers in the UK providing tailored and impartial regulated financial planning advice on life, pensions and investment products. Its 800 advisers offer customers expert advice and access to leading financial providers from across the market. Gerrard - one of the leading wealth managers in the UK providing bespoke advisory and discretionary investment advice through regional offices across the UK. Barclays Stockbrokers - the UK’s largest execution-only retail broker. Barclays Private Bank - offers bespoke banking and investment solutions to high net worth individuals. Barclays International Personal, Premier and Corporate Banking - providing bespoke and offshore banking solutions for international business and personal customers.

Main Operations International Retail and Commercial Banking Provides a range of banking services, including current accounts, savings, investments, mortgages and loans, as well as services to corporate customers across Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Africa and the Middle East. Barclays operates over 800 international branches. It is also responsible for Barclays stake in FirstCaribbean International Bank and Barclays majority stake in Absa, South Africa’s largest retail bank, with over seven million customers. Other businesses are Barclays Capital, Barclaycard and Barclays Global Investors which have their own sections below. The Woolwich, part of UK banking is also profiled.

Main Operations Barclaycard In the UK, Barclaycard has 11.2 million retail customers, with 3.7 million cards issued internationally. Barclaycard can be used to pay for goods and services in more than 22 million places in over 200 countries and to withdraw cash from over 600,000 cash machines and banks worldwide. Barclaycard was set up in 1966 and was the UK's first credit card. It is also the UK's leading card services provider on the internet. More than 800,000 customers regularly use Barclaycard's online account services. Barclaycard also looks after Barclays consumer lending business, mostly branded as Barclayloan, as well as other businesses: FirstPlus, Clydesdale Financial Services and Monument credit cards. Outside the UK, Barclaycard International operates in the United States, Germany, Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Ireland and across Africa. The acquisition of the US credit card issuer, Juniper Financial Corporation, was completed on 1st December, 2004.

Main Operations Woolwich Woolwich was acquired by Barclays in October 2000 to help boost the Group's mortgage business. It is now part of the Home Finance division of UK Banking but is represented on the high street through its branch network and also through the Barclays Group where Barclays mortgages are Woolwich branded.

Main Operations Barclays Capital Barclays Capital is the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC which has an AA long-term credit rating and a balance sheet of over £924 billion. With a distinctive business model, Barclays Capital provides large corporate, government and institutional clients with solutions to their financing and risk management needs. Barclays Capital has offices in 26 countries, employs over 9,000 people and has the global reach and distribution power to meet the needs of issuers and investors worldwide. In November 2005 Financial News magazine awarded Barclays Capital ‘European Investment Bank of the Year’ in its annual Awards for Excellence. Barclays Capital - the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC. Registered in England 1026167. Registered office 1 Churchill Place, London, E14 5HP. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and a member of the London Stock Exchange.

Main Operations Barclays Global Investors Barclays Global Investors is one of the world's largest asset managers and a leading global provider of investment management products and services. It has over 2,700 institutional clients and over £780 billion of assets under management. It transformed the investment industry by creating the first index strategy in 1971 and the first quantitative active strategy in 1978. BGI is the global product leader in Exchange Traded Funds (ishares) with over 100 funds for institutions and individuals trading in ten global markets. It has £84 billion of ishares under management.

Barclays Organisation Matthew Barrett Barclays Chairman John Varley Group Chief Executive Internal Audit David Roberts International Retail & Commercial Banking Chief Executive Gary Hoffman Chairman UK Banking & Barclaycard Naguib Kheraj Group Finance Director Paul Idzik Chief Operating Officer Barclays France Barclays Africa and Middle East Barclays Spain Barclays Portugal Banca Woolwich (Italy) First Caribbean International Bank Barclaycard Business Barclaycard Barclaycard International Barclaycard Partnerships FirstPlus UK Consumer Cards & Loans Corporate Secretariat Finance Investor Relations Legal and Compliance Property Portfolio Risk Taxation Treasury Central Information Office Corporate Affairs Corporate Development Facilities Management Human Resources Strategy and Planning UK Business Banking Asset & Sales Finance Larger Business Medium Business and Agricultural UK Retail Banking Brand Marketing Direct Channels General Insurance Home Finance Local Business Personal customers Premier Bob Diamond President, Barclays PLC Barclays Capital Investment Banking Barclays Global Investors Asset Management Barclays Wealth Management International & Private Bank Wealth Solutions

Barclays Chief information Office (CIO) - Reinventing Barclays IT: Building and Running Barclays IT Ensuring Barclays IT is Secure and Reliable Meeting our Customers’ Needs

Building and running Barclays IT Application Delivery (AD) handles application development requests in Barclays, providing programme and project management for application projects, AD leads systems integration activities – developing applications and configuring packages, using in-house resource or our strategic supplier arrangements. Infrastructure & Service Delivery (ISD) is accountable for the day to day end to end availability and service quality of the IT infrastructure which supports all of Barclays UK and European businesses. ISD also runs major infrastructure development projects, providing design solutions and all related test processes. Application Delivery Infrastructure & Service Delivery

Ensuring Barclays IT is secure and reliable IT Security (ITS) oversees and supports the implementation of Barclays information security policies and standards, defining and implementing an effective framework for the management of our IT security. Quality Assurance (QA) is responsible for defining our quality strategy, standards, controls and measures, as well as for performing quality audits across whole project and service delivery life cycles. IT Security Quality Assurance Architecture, Standards & Governance Architecture, Standards and Governance (ASG) is responsible for our IT strategy, architecture, standards and governance – in particular, defining and maintaining our IT architecture, including its cost structure implications.

Meeting our customers’ needs UK Banking Technology Office IRCB Technology Office Central Support Technology Office Barclaycard Technology Office Our Demand Management (Technology Office) teams work closely with the major Barclays business clusters, continually developing relationships, understanding the needs of each business and providing IT solutions that will enable them to work with us to achieve their strategic goals. These teams also work closely with Application Delivery and Infrastructure & Service Delivery to meet the IT requirements of their business areas.