Barclays Bases Offshore Operations In Isle Of Man

Investors Offshore, London

23 April 2002

The Government of the Isle of Man yesterday welcomed the decision by Barclays Private Clients, the bank's wealth management arm, to set up its headquarters for offshore banking in the Isle of Man.

The new company, Barclays Private Clients International, will act as holding company for its offshore banking activities on the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey.

Although it has had a substantial presence in the Isle of Man for many years, Barclays has grown recently to become one of the largest of some 60 banking operations in the Island. The trend towards centralising substantive banking operations in the Isle of Man is welcomed by its Government and is likely to be further encouraged by the Island's capacity for management of additional assets and its new highly competitive tax strategy.

Allan Bell, Treasury Minister, said :

"We are delighted with the decision by such a major player to locate its HQ on the Isle of Man. As a Government we continue to listen carefully to what companies tell us they need and - as a result - have taken pains to ensure that our support arrangements are as helpful as can be in the interests of the further development of our banking and financial services industry".

"For example, we have fewer impediments to inward staff transfer than other jurisdictions. We are acknowledged as a centre of excellence for service, for account opening and 'know your customer' verifications, and our business school turns out qualified, specialist staff, while our e commerce facilities are at the leading edge of the market."

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