For much of the 1980s and 1990s Barclays Bank was a great franchise in slow and gentle decline. It never suffered the massive setbacks and losses that beset its UK rivals, Midland and NatWest, both of which eventually succumbed to takeovers, but neither did it seem to be capable of making any great progress. It mishandled its investment banking build-up and subsequent disposal, it allowed its international network to wither and lost market share in key segments at home by standing aloof from domestic consolidation.
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