Barclays 2007 Annual Report Download - page 164

162 Barclays PLC Annual Report 2007
Presentation of Information
Barclays PLC is a public limited company registered in England under
company 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 reregistered in 1982 as a public limited
company under the 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 under
company 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 reregistered 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. The Annual Report for Barclays PLC also contains the
consolidated accounts of, and other information relating to, Barclays Bank
PLC. The Annual Report includes information required to be included in the
Barclays PLC and Barclays Bank PLC Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2007.
Form 20-F will contain as exhibits certificates pursuant to Sections 302
and 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, signed by the Group Chief
Executive and Group Finance Director, with respect to both Barclays PLC
and Barclays Bank PLC. Except where otherwise indicated, the information
given is identical with respect to both Barclays PLC and Barclays Bank PLC.
The term ‘Companies Act 1985’ means the company law provisions
of the Companies Act 1985 (as amended) that remain in force. The term
‘Companies Act 2006’ means the operative company law provisions of
the Companies Act 2006.
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 term ‘Barclays PLC Group’ means Barclays PLC together with its
subsidiaries and the term ‘Barclays Bank PLC Group’ means Barclays Bank
PLC together with its subsidiaries. ‘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’ or ‘parent Company’ refers to Barclays
PLC and the term ‘Bank’ refers to Barclays Bank PLC. The term ‘Absa Group
Limited’ is used to refer to Absa Group Limited and its subsidiaries and the
term ‘Absa’ is used to refer to the component of the International Retail
and Commercial Banking segment represented by this business. In this
report, the abbreviations ‘£m’ and ‘£bn’ represent millions and thousands
of millions of pounds sterling respectively; the abbreviations ‘US$m’
and ‘US$bn’ represent millions and thousands of millions of US Dollars
respectively and ‘¤m’ and ‘¤bn’ represent millions and thousands of
millions of euros respectively.
Statutory Accounts
The consolidated accounts of Barclays PLC and its subsidiaries are set
out on pages 165 to 265 along with the accounts of Barclays PLC itself
on page 180. The consolidated accounts of Barclays Bank PLC and its
subsidiaries are set out on pages 266 to 278. The accounting policies on
pages 165 to 173 and the Notes commencing on page 182 apply equally
to both sets of accounts unless otherwise stated.
Adoption of IFRS and 2004 comparatives
The Group adopted the requirements of International Financial Reporting
Standards and International Accounting Standards (collectively IFRSs)
as adopted by the European Union in 2005. As permitted by IFRS 1, the
accounting standards relating to financial instruments and insurance
contracts have not been applied to 2004. Therefore, the 2004 comparatives
are significantly different from the numbers reported in later years. n/a
has been included in tables where, as a result of the application of IAS 32,
IAS 39 and IFRS 4 in later years and UK GAAP in 2004, the disclosure is
not applicable.
Presentation of information