The Barclays Four: Who are they?

Four former top executives of Barclays bank have been charged with fraud over the way they staved off a potential taxpayer-bailout during the global financial crisis back in 2008.

But who are they? We look at the background of the four people involved:

Barclays chief executive John Varley in New York in 2010.

John Varley:

Born in 1956, he studied history at Oriel College Oxford and then became a lawyer. He joined Barclays in 1982 in its then merchant banking division.

He became head of the bank's high street network in the UK and later became the group's finance director from 2000 to 2003. He was then appointed to the post of chief executive in 2004.

He retired in December 2010 but was kept on until September 2011 as a special adviser to the board on regulatory matters.

A profile in the Guardian from June 2007 described his enthusiasm for playing ping pong.

He was well known for wearing red braces at work and, unlike some bosses of very big firms, was affable towards journalists, frequently representing Barclays on radio and TV whenever the bank announced its annual results.

He was also happy to talk openly about the problems of the banking industry in private briefings for journalists.

Roger Jenkins in 2012

Roger Jenkins:

Born in England in 1955, he studied economics at Heriot-Watt university.

According to the Times, he joined Barclays as a trainee in 1978 and rose steadily to become a top investment banker, reputedly one of the highest paid individuals in the City.

But his sporting life has, until now, been more interesting. He was a top rugby player at Edinburgh Academy, a leading private school. He also ran for Scotland in the 400 metres at the 1974 Commonwealth Games.

The year after, he won silver at the World Student Games. He is the younger brother of the sprinter David Jenkins, who was much more successful on the track, running in three Olympics and, in the 1972 games, winning a silver medal in the 400-metre relay.

Later David confessed to having taken anabolic steroids and was convicted for giving the drugs to other athletes in the US.

Roger left Barclays in 2009 and currently works for the Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual. The SFO says he currently lives in Malibu in California.

Thomas Kalaris in 2011

Thomas Kalaris:

Aged 61, he is an American who lives in London.

Educated at the University of Chicago, he joined Barclays in 1996 after an 18-year career with the giant US bank JP Morgan where he started as a bond trader.

He became the head of Barclays Wealth from 2009 to 2013, the division that looks after the accounts and investments of rich personal clients and their families.

He left Barclays in April 2013 after a reorganisation of the bank's senior management that came in the wake of the departure, the year before, of the then Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond.

Mr Kalaris went on to launch a private investment management business called Saranac in 2016.

Richard Boath in London in November 2016

Richard Boath:

He is aged 58, lives in London, and was a former senior manager for Barclays until he was sacked by the bank last year.

In an employment tribunal, which has been adjourned, his lawyers claimed his dismissal was a direct response to reading the 900 pages of evidence that Mr Boath had given in interviews to the SFO about the Qatar fund-raising.