Barclays shares fall 5% on new fraud allegations

Barclays' share price has fallen 5% this morning following news US prosecutors has initiated a fraud case against the bank.

The charges claim the British lender misled investors about its ‘dark pool' electronic trading operations: anonymous trading venues that keep details secret until after the completion of a trade. The New York Attorney General alleges the bank promised to get the best possible execution prices for customers, but instead "nearly always" routed trades through its own dark pool system - when other exchanges may have offered better prices. By 10am on Thursday the bank's share price had fallen 5.2%, meaning shares now stand down 20% year-to-date. A Barclays spokesman responded: "We take ...