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This document comprises the 2000 Annual report of Barclays
PLC and the 2000 Annual report on Form 20-F to the US
Securities and Exchange Commission of Barclays PLC and
Barclays Bank PLC. It contains the Directors’ report and
accounts of Barclays PLC, together with the Auditors’ report
thereon, as required by the UK Companies Act 1985. The
Barclays PLC Annual Review and Summary Financial
Statement 2000 is published as a separate document.
Barclays PLC is a public limited company registered in England
and Wales under number 48839. The Company, originally
named Barclay & Company Limited, was incorporated in
England and Wales on 20th July 1896 under the Companies
Acts 1862 to 1890 as a company limited by shares. The
company name was changed to Barclays Bank Limited on
17th February 1917 and it was re-registered in 1982 as
a public limited company under Companies Acts 1948 to
1980. On 1st January 1985, the company changed its name
to Barclays PLC.
Barclays Bank PLC is a public limited company registered in
England and Wales under number 1026167. The Bank was
incorporated on 7th August 1925 under the Colonial Bank Act
1925 and on 4th October 1971 was registered as a company
limited by shares under the Companies Acts 1948 to 1967.
Pursuant to The Barclays Bank Act 1984, on 1st January 1985
the Bank was re-registered as a public limited company and its
name was changed from Barclays Bank International Limited
to Barclays Bank PLC.
All of the issued ordinary share capital of Barclays Bank PLC
is owned by Barclays PLC. This report has therefore been
prepared as a joint annual report on Form 20-F for Barclays
PLC and Barclays Bank PLC and it also contains the
consolidated accounts of and other information relating to
Barclays Bank PLC. Except where otherwise indicated, the
information given is identical with respect to both Barclays
PLC and Barclays Bank PLC.
The accounts of Barclays Bank PLC included in this document
do not comprise statutory accounts within the meaning of
Section 240 of the Companies Act 1985. The statutory
accounts of Barclays Bank PLC, which contain an unqualified
audit report and do not contain any statement under Section
237(2) or (3) of that Act, will be delivered to the Registrar of
Companies in accordance with Section 242 of that Act and
are published as a separate document.
The consolidated accounts of Barclays PLC and its subsidiary
undertakings are set out in Accounting policies along with the
accounts of Barclays PLC itself in Parent company accounts. The consolidated
accounts of Barclays Bank PLC and its subsidiary undertakings
are set out on Barclays Bank PLC data. The accounting policies in
Accounting policies and the notes commencing in Notes to the accounts apply
equally to both sets of accounts unless otherwise stated. The
financial statements contained in this document, which include
the results of Woolwich plc from acquisition on 25th October
2000, also reflect changes in the Group’s management
structure which took place in 2000, as explained in Changes in reporting of Group structure in 2000.
The comparative data has been restated, where appropriate.
The term ‘Barclays PLC Group’ means Barclays PLC together
with its subsidiary undertakings and the term ‘Barclays Bank
PLC Group’ means Barclays Bank PLC together with its
subsidiary undertakings. ‘Barclays’ and ‘Group’ are terms
which are used to refer to either of the preceding groups
when the subject matter is identical. The term ‘Company’
refers to Barclays PLC and the term ‘Bank’ refers to Barclays
Bank PLC. The term ‘The Woolwich’ means Woolwich plc
and its subsidiary undertakings.
In this report, the abbreviations ‘£m’ and ‘£bn’ represent
millions and thousands of millions of pounds sterling
respectively; the abbreviations ‘$m’ and ‘$bn’ represent
millions and thousands of millions of US dollars respectively
and € m and € bn represent millions and thousands of millions
of euros respectively.
References to operating results ‘before the impact of the
Finance Act’ exclude the impact of taxation changes arising
from the Finance (No. 2) Act 1997 and the Finance Act 1998.
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