No changes in Barclay’s’ exposure to the sub-prime crisis

In November last year, Barclays made a £1.3 billion write-down for losses to its exposure in the US sub-prime market crisis and outlined its remaining exposures in the collateralised debt obligations market and other areas.

Barclays, Britain’s third largest bank, said that if problems linked to its exposure to the credit market crisis had materially changed since an update in November, it would have made them known.

Bob Diamond, president of Barclays and head of its investment bank arm, said if there was anything materially different from then we’d have to make a report.

Mr Diamond added we react to the market prices and we made a clinical and clear report in late November and we’re seeing more of that from the other banks. We believe strongly that there’s nothing in our position today that we didn’t know was there last summer.

There have been multi-billion dollar write-downs by US banks and it is expected that European counterparts will follow suit.

Barclays is to report its 2007 results on 19 February.

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