The ratings on U.K.-based Barclays Bank PLC (Barclays) reflect its strong earnings and returns, good market positions, increased diversification, solid funding base, and highly developed risk-management framework. The ratings also reflect increased earnings volatility and potential for further markdowns in its investment bank; its relatively weak, although improving, capitalization; its significant exposure to U.K. unsecured personal debt; and its large defined-benefit pension scheme. Barclays has a range of strongly profitable businesses across multiple product lines, including retail banking and business banking in the U.K. and abroad, investment banking, and asset management. Growth has generally been rapid, and until mid-2007 heavily driven by wholesale banking toward which Barclays' business profile has been shifting. Since that time, the investment bank--like many others--has
