LONDON, April 23, 2026, 18:37 BST
Barclays Plc is now claiming that the missing money at the collapsed UK lender Market Financial Solutions (MFS) was fraudulently shuffled between affiliated firms, according to Bloomberg News on Thursday. The accusation intensifies the controversy that’s already led Barclays to retreat from certain higher-risk asset-based loans.
Timing is in focus here. Barclays is slated to post its first-quarter numbers on April 28, according to its investor calendar. After the bank pared down part of its asset-based lending to smaller clients—these are loans secured with collateral—investors will be scanning for any changes in expected losses, recoveries, and risk controls.
One day prior, Bloomberg reported that a company connected to MFS took out a £143 million loan from Wells Fargo in late November. Barclays had pulled out and frozen accounts linked to the group, prompting the move.
MFS, a bridging lender specializing in short-term property loans, collapsed into administration back in February. Creditors accused the group of financial irregularities and mismanagement. According to court filings seen by Reuters, MFS may have double-pledged assets—using the same collateral to back multiple loans. The documents put the “true value” of the group’s collateral accounts at just 230 million pounds, compared to outstanding loans totaling 1.16 billion pounds. Reuters
Regulators wasted no time. Back in March, Reuters reported the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority had pressed lenders like Barclays for specifics on their exposure and due diligence. The Financial Conduct Authority soon followed, launching an enforcement probe into MFS. Creditors, among them big banks and private credit funds, are now staring at a shortfall of more than 1.3 billion pounds.
Back in March, Reuters said Barclays faced a 495 million pound hit tied to its MFS exposure. Not long after, another Reuters piece flagged Bloomberg’s report: the bank had started dialing down asset-based loans for smaller firms and was pushing more towards bigger corporate accounts, moves coming after both MFS and Tricolor fell apart.
Barclays isn’t the only bank facing exposure here. Santander and Jefferies showed up on Reuters’ list back in February, linked to MFS. Now Wells Fargo is in the mix too, turning up this week after a late-November financing deal with a company tied to MFS.
Last month, Barclays CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan voiced his “disappointment” over the bank’s MFS exposure, adding he anticipated the impairment would come in “materially lower” than the 495 million-pound figure on the books, Bloomberg reported. Joe Saluzzi, Themis Trading’s co-head of equity trading, told Reuters following the collapse, “we’re starting to continue to see these types of things pop up”—reflecting ongoing nerves about credit standards. Bloomberg
The outcome remains unclear. The FCA probe drags on, the PRA keeps pressing lenders about their checks, and creditors are staring at a shortfall north of 1.3 billion pounds—so recoveries won’t be quick, and Barclays’ ultimate hit could still change. For a lending business already in overhaul, that uncertainty lingers.
Investors aren’t rushing in. Barclays lost 1.5% in London trading on Thursday, underperforming HSBC, which slipped just 0.4% as the FTSE 100 eased 0.2%. Next week’s earnings arrive with the bank having posted 9.1 billion pounds in 2025 pretax profit back in February. Management lifted its 2028 target for return on tangible equity above 14%, and outlined plans to hand over more than 15 billion pounds to shareholders from 2026 through 2028.
