Case study on Barclays Bank

Essay

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................2
Main Body...............................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Ethics refers to what is right and wrong. Perceptions of individuals vary but these are the facts
which remain same. They are moral principles which govern behavior of individuals while carrying out
different activities (Paulet, Parnaudeau, and Relano, 2015). This essay is based on Barclays Bank
which is headquartered in London. It provides services in banking and financial services. John
McFarlane is group chairman and Jes Staley is group chief executive. This essay will depict that
if Barclays Bank maintained ethics to attain success and also effectiveness of ethics is illustrated
which will assist them to grow.
Main Body
Barclays plc is a public limited company, British multinational financial and investment
service bank. Its core businesses are wealth & investment management, corporate and personal
banking. Barclays has been primarily listed in London Stock Exchange and their constituents are
FTSE 100 Index. It has secondary listing on New York Stock Exchange, it is an investment
vehicle which is largest shareholder of bank and it is present in State of Qatar. Its revenue in
2018 was around £21.136 billion and operating income was nearby £3.494 billion. They
comprises of approximately 79,900 employees. Ethics depicts what is right and wrong with
respect to society. It signifies what is meant to be done and what is not. Social responsibility can
be defined as action which is taken by individuals to facilitate the society. Individuals are
considered responsible for accomplishing their duties towards society. Mostly all organizations
have tried to maintain a system where they have social responsibility with which they are able to
keep their employees and environment equally important. Barclays Bank also tried to have
ethical behavior towards society and their employees. But in recent years, they have established
unethical behavior which was shocking for entire world. Bank has altered LIBOR by rendering
wrong information about their bank rates. Levels of ethical development portray or signify ways
in which organization or an individual can grow. Simultaneously, it also assists to acknowledge
motive of organization and individual in terms of whether they are having ethical or unethical
behavior (Menzel, 2014). Executives of Barclays Bank depicted level of pre-conventional
morality while altering interest rates of LIBOR. With respect to pre-conventional morality
organization and individuals are only concerned with their own interest rather than considering
what impact will this lay on others. Simultaneously, organizations obeyed laws only if they were
formulated by powerful persons or institutes. Companies adopt wrong behavior so that they can

end up successful and at the end they are being punished. Barclays bank also portrayed such kind
of behavior, they were self-centered and they did by what they can increase their profits. Bank
planned low bank to bank rates so that they can seem more appealing and stable within market.
For this they collaborated with British governments and other banks to impact decision making
of LIBOR in negative manner. Barclays bank ignored social responsibility by engaging
themselves in rate rig practices; this act was considered as crime of century by different people.
The bank certain that they will not follow rules related with environmental regulations for their
personal benefits and gains. They were having option to socially right (Valentine and Godkin,
2017).
Barclays bank should have considered impact which their business can have on
environment and should have moved towards decreasing impact or harm rather than increasing
their own benefits. It comprises of contribution to ecosystem, participation in projects organized
by community and assurance of benefits to employees and their customers. Other factor which
bank can have taken into consideration is to have transparency and call of action. Transparency
is depicted when organization have public charts in terms of their progress and pledge for
supporting a cause (Schwartz, 2017). Thus, Barclays Bank could have told public know about
their operations with financial status of bank and also illustrating their appropriate rates. Another
point which must be taken into account is that they must have provided educational
opportunities. They are crucial for taking institute ahead. Education opportunities like programs
related with CSR could have assisted management to boost up their knowledge in specific
domain and give them better knowledge related with ethics and social responsibility. Once this
scandal broke, bank should have tried to engage themselves in activities which are related with
corporate social responsibility so that they can make things right and make sure that such kind of
activities will not occur in future. For this bank could have confessed about their behavior and
made a public statement. This would help Barclays Bank to gain confidence of government and
public. By this they would be able to clear their negative image within society. Other factor is
they must have shown actual rates as they were accused of violating law by giving wrong
information (Tricker and Tricker, 2014). If information which was furnished to LIBOR would be
right then nothing would have been happened. Another point which can be considered is they
must have reimbursed damage which they have caused to business executives, London banks,
individuals and small businesses. These actions resulted in damage which comprised of altered

information to loan seekers, investors and also resignation of top officials. Bank could have
compensated damage which was caused to effected people. At last, bank can make ethical
decisions in future. Bank could have made things right by promising that they will follow ethical
behavior in future in which interest of people and society will be considered at topmost priority.
Being ethical will assist organization to benefit society and portray their responsibility.
Executives of Barclays bank could have confirmed post-conventional level of morality when
they would have been asked about long run benefits related with alteration in rates in LIBOR. In
such kind of situations rules reflects social contract which will protect rights of individual rather
than dictating. That is the reason rules are changed as they are not able to benefit society
anymore (Trevino and Nelson, 2016).
After analyzing what was done by Barclays bank, importance of ethics and integrity is
depicted here with respect to success and survival in long run. Firstly, ethics will make sure
economic survival of organization. Business needs to step up for solving environmental
conditions which exists in present scenario for this appropriate education must be provided to
employees, public, customers who pay for services and suppliers for rendering quality services.
Secondly, it ensures fairness and honesty in business. It accomplishes their promise which was to
meet expectations of customers. Third, quality of recruitment and their retention will be
improvised. By this they will be able to fascinate suppliers, customers and investors. This will
definitely lead Barclays bank towards success rather than using wrong means to attain heights
(Valentine and Godkin, 2017).
CONCLUSION
From above, it can be concluded that Barclays bank did not followed ethical behavior and
this is the way many organizations violate rules. Ethics are essential for formulating image
within society and services which they are offering. Therefore, it is essential for an organization
to have ethical practices in their working structure. Furthermore, they must also take into
consideration social responsibility by which they can also concentrate on social problems. By
using these opportunities, organizations make a profit and also assist society.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Menzel, D. C., 2014. Ethics management for public administrators: Building organizations of
integrity. Routledge.
Paulet, E., Parnaudeau, M. and Relano, F., 2015. Banking with ethics: Strategic moves and
structural changes of the banking industry in the aftermath of the subprime mortgage
crisis. Journal of Business Ethics. 131(1). pp.199-207.
Schwartz, M. S., 2017. Business ethics: an ethical decision-making approach (Vol. 10). John
Wiley & Sons.
Trevino, L. K. and Nelson, K. A., 2016. Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do
it right. John Wiley & Sons.
Tricker, B. and Tricker, G., 2014. Business Ethics: A stakeholder, governance and risk
approach. Routledge.
Valentine, S. and Godkin, L., 2017. Banking employees’ perceptions of corporate social
responsibility, value-fit commitment, and turnover intentions: Ethics as social glue and
attachment. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal. 29(2). pp.51-71.
(Menzel, 2014) (Paulet, Parnaudeau, and Relano, 2015) (Schwartz, 2017) (Trevino and Nelson,
2016) (Tricker and Tricker, 2014) (Valentine and Godkin, 2017)