The Group has adopted the requirements of International Financial Reporting Standards and International Accounting Standards (collectively IFRS) as adopted by the European Union for the first time for the purpose of preparing financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2005. A summary of the Group's significant accounting policies has been included in the 2005 Annual Report. Further details on all of these can be found at www.investorrelations.barclays.co.uk
Whilst the change in accounting standards has no impact on the underlying economics or risk of the business, the 2004 results under IFRS are different from the Group's previously provided 2004 results under UK GAAP. In addition, since, as permitted by IFRS, the accounting standards relating to financial instruments (IAS 32 and 39) and insurance contracts (IFRS 4) have not been applied to 2004, the numbers reported in 2004 are not directly comparable to those reported in 2005. The effect of the transition and a description of the differences between UK GAAP and IFRS accounting policies has been included in the 2005 Annual Report.
