Barclays

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). The group achieved a pre-tax profit of £5,280 million before the year ended in 2005 which is up fifteen per cent from the previous year. 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.