Shares in Barclays fell 1.5% to 223.75p as reports surfaced.
The DoJ asserts in the civil complaint against the FTSE 100-listed bank that its personnel “repeatedly misrepresented the characteristics” of the mortgage-backed securities it sold to investors around the world between 2005 and 2007, triggering billions of dollars in losses.
Barclays had been in discussions with the DoJ, failing to come to a conclusion.
In a statement released Friday morning, Barclays said it “rejects the claims made in the complaint” by the DoJ, calling it “disconnected from the facts.”
Barclays has had its share of controversy over the years, however, investors like Old Mutual Global Investors’ CEO Richard Buxton, who has the bank among the top-ten holdings of his Old Mutual UK Alpha fund, have continued to back the bank.
Many in the industry have championed Barclays as a better investment over peer RBS because of the latter’s difficulty getting out from underneath its restructuring and litigation costs.
The complaint filed by the US Justice Department comes as it reached a settlement with Swiss bank Credit Suisse and German financial institution Deutsche Bank, after months of negotiations over similar alleged activity that contributed to the financial crisis.
