UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, DC 20549

 


 

FORM 6-K

 


 

REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER

PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-16 OR 15d-16 OF THE

SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

August 15, 2012

 


 

Barclays Bank PLC

(Name of Registrant)

 


 

1 Churchill Place

London E14 5HP

England

(Address of principal executive offices)

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F:

 

Form 20-F      x    Form 40-F      o

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1): o

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7): o

 

THIS REPORT ON FORM 6-K SHALL BE DEEMED TO BE INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT OF BARCLAYS BANK PLC ON FORM F-3 (NO. 333-169119) AND TO BE A PART THEREOF FROM THE DATE ON WHICH THIS REPORT IS FURNISHED, TO THE EXTENT NOT SUPERSEDED BY DOCUMENTS OR REPORTS SUBSEQUENTLY FILED OR FURNISHED.

 

 

 



 

Barclays Bank PLC hereby incorporates by reference the following exhibits to this report into its Registration Statement on Form F-3 (No. 333-169119):

 

Exhibit No.

 

Description

 

 

 

1.1

 

Agency Agreement, Series A, dated as of May 23, 2007, with respect to Medium Term Notes, Series A And Other Securities Of Barclays Bank PLC, between Barclays Bank PLC and UBS Financial Services Inc.

 

 

 

1.2

 

Agency Agreement, Series A, dated as of March 9, 2009, with respect to Medium Term Notes, Series A, Warrants And Other Securities Of Barclays Bank PLC, between Barclays Bank PLC and UBS Financial Services Inc.

 

 

 

1.3

 

Agency Agreement, Series A, dated as of November 20, 2006, with respect to Medium Term Notes, Series A And Other Securities Of Barclays Bank PLC, between Barclays Bank PLC and JPMorgan Securities Inc.

 

 

 

1.4

 

Amendment to Agency Agreement, Series A, dated as of December 17, 2007 with respect to Medium Term Notes, Series A And Other Securities Of Barclays Bank PLC, between Barclays Bank PLC and JPMorgan Securities Inc.

 

 

 

1.5

 

Accession Agreement, dated as of June 23, 2011 with respect to Global Medium Term Notes, Series A And Other Securities Of Barclays Bank PLC, among Barclays Bank PLC, JPMorgan Securities Inc and Chase Investment Services Corp.

 

 

 

1.6

 

Agency Agreement, Series A, dated as of November 20, 2006, with respect to Medium Term Notes, Series A And Other Securities Of Barclays Bank PLC, between Barclays Bank PLC and JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association.

 

 

 

1.7

 

Amendment to Agency Agreement, Series A, dated as of April 1, 2011, with respect to Medium Term Notes, Series A And Other Securities Of Barclays Bank PLC, between Barclays Bank PLC and JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association.

 

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SIGNATURES

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, each of the registrants has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorised.

 

 

 

 

BARCLAYS BANK PLC

 

 

(Registrant)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Date: August 15, 2012

By:

/s/ Johnny Wu

 

 

Name: Johnny Wu

 

 

Title: Managing Director

 

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Exhibit 1.1

 

 

MEDIUM TERM NOTES, SERIES A
AND OTHER SECURITIES OF BARCLAYS BANK PLC

 

Agency Agreement

 

May 23, 2007

 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

1.                                       General .  You, the undersigned, UBS Financial Services Inc. (“you” or the “Agent”), understand that Barclays Bank PLC, a public limited company organized under the laws of England and Wales (“we”, “us” or the “Issuer”), is entering into this Agency Agreement (“Agreement”) in counterparts with you to act as placement agent in connection with offerings of securities of the Issuer.  Such offerings include, without limitation, offerings made pursuant to the Distribution Agreement, dated September 17, 2004 (the “Distribution Agreement”), between the Issuer and Barclays Capital Inc., as may be amended from time-to-time, relating to the Issuer’s Medium-Term Notes, Series A (the “Notes”).  The Notes will be issued pursuant to an Indenture dated as of September 16, 2004, between the Issuer and Bank of New York, as trustee (the “Trustee”) (as may be supplemented or amended from time to time, the “Indenture”).  The term “Manager” herein means Barclays Capital Inc. acting in such capacity as lead agent.

 

At or prior to the time of an offering, the Manager will advise you, to the extent applicable, by wire, facsimile, electronic data transmission or other written communication (“Wire”) as to the expected offering date, the expected closing date, the initial public offering price, the interest or dividend rate (or the method by which such rate is to be determined), the conversion price, if applicable, the gross fee, the underwriting and management fee or placement fee, the selling concession, the reallowance, the time of release of securities for sale to the public, the time at which subscription books will be opened, the amount, if any, of securities reserved for purchase by your customers, the period of such reservation and the amount of securities to be allotted to your customers, and stating that the purchase in an offering of securities will become effective following our receipt of your acceptance on behalf of your customers.  Each offering will be conducted in accordance with the Administrative Procedures attached hereto as Schedule I or as may be otherwise agreed between you and the Issuer.  If you have not previously executed this Agreement, by the purchase by customers for which you have acted as Agent in an offering covered by this Agreement you shall be deemed to be a signatory hereof with respect to such offering.

 

The securities to be purchased in any offering of securities in which you agree to participate as an agent pursuant to this Agreement, including any guarantees relating to such securities or any other securities into which such securities are convertible or for which such securities are exercisable or exchangeable and any securities that may be purchased upon exercise of an over allotment option, are hereinafter referred to as the “Securities”.

 

The following provisions of this Agreement shall apply separately to each individual offering of Securities.

 

2.                                       Allotments .  The purchase of Securities by your customers will be made on the basis of a reservation of Securities and an allotment against subscriptions.  Any application for additional Securities will be subject to rejection in whole or in part.  Subscription books may be closed by us at

 



 

any time in our discretion without notice and the right is reserved to reject any subscription in whole or in part.

 

You will make reasonable efforts to obtain performance by each purchaser of Securities for whom you are acting as agent, but you will not have any liability to the Issuer in the event any such purchase is not consummated for any reason.

 

3.                                       Offering Materials .  (a) You understand that registration of the offer and sale of the Securities is required under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”).  In connection with any offering of Securities, we or our affiliate shall make available to you at our expense such numbers of copies of the Time of Sale Information and of the Prospectus (in each case as defined below and other than information incorporated by reference therein) as you may reasonably request for the purposes of the 1933 Act and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “1934 Act”), and the applicable rules and regulations thereunder.  You represent and warrant that you are familiar with Rule 173 under the 1933 Act, as well as Rule 15c2-8 (or any successor provision) under the 1934 Act and agree that you will comply with the requirements of each Rule.

 

“Preliminary Prospectus” means any preliminary pricing supplement relating to an offering of Securities filed or to be filed under Rule 424 of the 1933 Act, together with the prospectus supplement (including any “product” supplements) and prospectus relating to the Securities.

 

“Prospectus” means the final pricing supplement relating to an offering of Securities filed or to be filed under Rule 424 of the 1933 Act, together with the prospectus supplement (including any “product” supplements) and prospectus relating to the Securities.

 

“Free writing prospectus” has the meaning set forth in Rule 405 under the 1933 Act and “Permitted Free Writing Prospectus” means (i) a free writing prospectus authorized for use by the Issuer in connection with an offering of Securities that has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission” or “SEC”) in accordance with Rule 433(d) of the 1933 Act; (ii) a free writing prospectus containing a description of terms of the Securities that (1) does not reflect the final terms and (2) is exempt from the filing requirement pursuant to Rule 433(d)(5)(i) under the 1933 Act; or (iii) a free writing prospectus that (1) does not contain substantive changes from or additions to a free writing prospectus previously filed with the Commission and (2) is exempt from the filing requirement pursuant to Rule 433(d)(3) under the 1933 Act.

 

“Time of Sale” means, with respect to each offering of Securities, the time that is after the time of acceptance by us of an offer for the purchase of such Securities pursuant to this Agreement or the time of agreement to sell such Securities to you pursuant to, and as stated in, the applicable Terms Agreement, as the case may be.

 

“Time of Sale Information” means the Preliminary Prospectus together with each Permitted Free Writing Prospectus, if any, in connection with sales of a particular issue of Securities, considered together as of the Time of Sale.

 

(b)                                  You agree that you will not use, authorize use of, refer to, or participate in the planning for use of any written communication (as defined in Rule 405 under the 1933 Act) concerning the Issuer or any offering of Securities (including without limitation any free writing prospectus and any information furnished by any issuer of the Securities but not incorporated by reference into the Preliminary Prospectus or Prospectus) other than: (i) any Preliminary Prospectus or Prospectus; (ii) any Permitted Free Writing Prospectus; (iii) a free writing prospectus that would not constitute an “issuer free writing prospectus” as such term is defined in Rule 433(h)(1) under the

 

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1933 Act, including any free writing prospectus required to be filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 433(d)(1)(ii) under the 1933 Act; or (iv) any communications that comply with Rule 134 or Rule 135 under the 1933 Act, which communication is furnished to you by the Issuer or Manager.

 

(c)                                   You represent and agree that any Time of Sale Information made available to you by the Issuer or the Manager in connection with an offering of Securities, if not publicly available on the SEC’s website, will be conveyed to each person to whom you sell or deliver Securities prior to entering into a contract of sale with such person, agree to make a record of your distribution of such Time of Sale Information and agree, once furnished with copies of any revised Preliminary Prospectus or Permitted Free Writing Prospectus or a new Permitted Free Writing Prospectus revising or supplementing the terms of the Preliminary Prospectus or a previous Permitted Free Writing Prospectus, if not publicly available on the SEC’s website, to promptly forward copies thereof to each person to whom you have theretofore distributed a Preliminary Prospectus or Permitted Free Writing Prospectus prior to entering into any contract of sale with such person.

 

(d)                                  The Issuer will, whether or not any sale of Securities is consummated, pay all expenses incident to the performance of its obligations under this Agreement and any Terms Agreement, including: (i) the preparation and filing of the Registration Statement, the Prospectus and all amendments and supplements thereto, and Time of Sale Information, (ii) the preparation, issuance and delivery of the Securities, (iii) the fees and disbursements of the Issuer’s counsel and accountants and of the Trustee and its counsel, (iv) the qualification of the Securities under securities or Blue Sky laws in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement, including filing fees and the fees and disbursements of your counsel in connection therewith and in connection with the preparation of any Blue Sky or Legal Investment Memoranda, (v) the printing and delivery to you in quantities as hereinabove stated of copies of the Registration Statement and all amendments thereto, of the Prospectus and any amendments or supplements thereto, and the Time of Sale Information (vi) the printing and delivery to you of copies of the Indenture, and any Blue Sky or Legal Investment Memoranda, (vii) any fees charged by rating agencies for the rating of the Notes, and (viii) the fees and expenses, if any, incurred with respect to any filing with the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (the “NASD”).

 

4.                                       Offering of the Securities .

 

(a)                                   Subject to the terms and conditions set forth herein and to the reservation by the Issuer of the right to (i) sell Notes directly on its own behalf at any time and to any person, (ii) cause additional agents to enter into similar agreements from time to time, (iii) sell Securities to any agent, acting as principal, for its own account or for resale to one or more investors or to another broker-dealer, acting as principal, for purpose of resale, and (iv) accept offers to purchase Securities through other agents on substantially the same terms and conditions as would apply to you, we hereby appoint you our agent for the purpose of soliciting and receiving offers to purchase Securities on our behalf.

 

(c)                                   On the basis of the representations and warranties and subject to the terms and conditions set forth herein, you agree to use reasonable efforts to solicit and receive offers to purchase Securities or place Securities upon the terms and conditions set forth in the Preliminary Prospectus or Time of Sale Information as then amended or supplemented.

 

(d)                                  The Issuer reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to suspend, at any time and for any period, the solicitation of offers to purchase Securities.  Upon receipt of any notice of such suspension from the Issuer, the Agent shall as soon as possible, but in no event later than one business day in New York City after receipt of such notice, suspend its solicitation of offers to purchase Securities until the Issuer shall have advised the Agent that such solicitation may be resumed.

 

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(e)                                   You shall promptly communicate to the Issuer, orally or in writing, each offer to purchase Securities received by you, other than offers rejected by you pursuant to the next sentence.  You shall have the right, in your discretion reasonably exercised, to reject as unreasonable any offer to purchase Securities received by you and no such rejection shall be deemed a breach of your obligations hereunder.  We shall have the sole right to accept offers to purchase Securities and may, in our sole discretion, reject any offer in whole or in part.

 

(f)                                     The offering of the Securities is made subject to the conditions referred to in the Prospectus and to the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement and any Wire.  After the public offering of the Securities has commenced, the Issuer may change the public offering price, the selling concession, the reallowance to dealers and the placement fee to brokers and agents.  To the extent that any of the foregoing changes affect you, we will notify you promptly.  Any of the Securities offered by you pursuant to this Agreement are to be offered, subject to their receipt and acceptance by the Manager to the public at the initial public offering price, subject to the terms of this Agreement and the Prospectus.

 

(g)                                  The Securities shall not be offered or sold by you to any dealer, other than your affiliates.

 

(h)                                  If required under applicable law, a single transfer tax upon the sale of the Securities by the Issuer to your customers will be paid by us when such Securities are delivered to your customers.  However, your customers shall be liable for and pay any other transfer tax, withholding or any other taxes they may incur or are otherwise payable in connection with a purchase, holding, disposition or redemption of the Securities.

 

(i)                                      Unless otherwise agreed between you and us, for each offering of Securities (i) the delivery of the Securities shall be made against payment for those Securities on the third business days after the “pricing” or “trade” date and (ii) the maturity date and final payment on the Securities shall be made on the third business day after the “final valuation date”, “final observation date” or “final averaging date” as such terms are defined in the applicable Prospectus.

 

(j)                                      Subsequent to the initial offering of the Securities and for so long as the Securities remain outstanding, we agree that, absent a market disruption event as such term is defined in the applicable Prospectus, we will purchase any Securities in the open market from your customers at our published bid price for amounts up to $100,000 or, if intraday, at the price quoted by us to you for any aggregate amount you request.  For the avoidance of doubt, the valuation and unwind methodology agreed to by the parties hereto is set forth in the Administrative Procedures attached hereto as Schedule I .

 

(k)                                   Purchases as Principal .  Each sale of Notes to you as principal shall be made in accordance with the terms of this Agreement.  In connection with each such sale, the Issuer will enter into a Terms Agreement that will provide for the sale of such Notes to and the purchase thereof by you.  Each Terms Agreement will take the form of either (i) a written agreement, the form of which will be agreed upon between you and the Issuer (a “ Written Terms Agreement ”), or (ii) an oral agreement between you and the Issuer confirmed in writing by either you to the Issuer or the Issuer to you.

 

Your commitment to purchase Notes as principal pursuant to a Terms Agreement shall be deemed to have been made on the basis of the representations and warranties of the Issuer herein contained and shall be subject to the terms and conditions herein set forth.  Each Terms Agreement relating to the Notes shall specify the principal amount of Notes to be purchased by you pursuant

 

4



 

thereto, the price to be paid to the Issuer for such Notes, the maturity date of such Notes, the interest rate and interest rate formula, if any, applicable to such Notes and any other terms of such Notes.

 

Each Terms Agreement shall specify the time and place of delivery of and payment for such Notes, as the case may be.  Unless otherwise specified in a Terms Agreement, the procedural details relating to the issue and delivery of Notes purchased by you as principal and the payment therefor shall be as set forth in the Administrative Procedures.  Each date of delivery of and payment for Notes to be purchased by you as principal pursuant to a Terms Agreement, as the case may be, is referred to herein as a “Settlement Date.”

 

5.                                       Stabilization and Over Allotment .  One or more of our affiliates may, with respect to any offering of Securities, be authorized to over allot, to purchase and sell Securities for long or short account and to stabilize or maintain the market price of the Securities.  You agree that upon our request at any time and from time to time prior to the termination of the effectiveness of this Agreement with respect to an offering of Securities, you will report the amount of Securities purchased by your customers.

 

6.                                       Legal Responsibility .  (a) The Issuer, as such, shall have full authority to take such action as it deems advisable in all matters pertaining to the offering of the Securities or arising under this Agreement.

 

(b)                                  After each offering of Securities and for so long as the Securities remain outstanding, the Issuer, through the Manager, shall use reasonable efforts to provide information, including publication on each business day of bid and mid-offer prices with a spread of no more than 1.0%, to assist you in obtaining timely pricing information concerning the Securities for which you act as agent.

 

7.                                       Your Representations to Us .  Each and every time you act as agent in connection with the sale of any of the Securities to one of your customers, you represent and warrant as follows:

 

(a)                                   You maintain and enforce policies designed to ensure compliance with all applicable federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations (or rules of any self-regulatory organization) relating to maintenance of information and the suitability of the Securities for purchase by that customer.

 

(b)                                  You maintain and enforce policies designed to ensure compliance with all applicable provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, as amended by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (“ERISA”), and the rules and regulations of the Department of Labor.

 

(c)                                   You maintain and enforce policies designed to ensure compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations, including the provisions of the 1933 Act and the 1934 Act and the rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder, the rules and regulations of any securities exchange having jurisdiction over the offering and the laws, rules and regulations of any applicable regulatory body.

 

(d)                                  You further represent and agree that you have implemented and currently maintain (and shall maintain for so long as you are a party to this Agreement) an anti-money laundering (“AML”) program (including, without limitation, an effective customer identification program) that satisfies the requirements of (i) Section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act (Pub. L. 107-56) and the regulations promulgated thereunder and (ii) all applicable federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations of its own jurisdiction including but not limited to, where applicable, the Bank Secrecy Act (as amended by the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 (the “Act”)). You further represent that you will

 

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adopt appropriate policies, procedures and internal controls to be fully compliant with any additional laws, rules or regulations, including the Bank Secrecy Act, to which it may become subject.

 

(e)                                   In the event you receive notice that the Prospectus relating to an offering is being amended by the Issuer, you shall either await receipt of the amended Prospectus before providing the same to customers, or if a Prospectus has previously been provided to your customers, provide the amended Prospectus to your customers immediately upon receipt thereof from the Issuer.

 

(f)                                     The information contained in any Permitted Free Writing Prospectus prepared by you in connection with any offering of Securities, and authorized by us, will be consistent in all material respects with our previous filings with the SEC, including but not limited to “issuer free writing prospectuses” as that term is defined in Rule 433(h)(1) under the 1933 Act and prospectuses filed pursuant to Rule 424 under the 1933 Act.

 

8.                                       Our Representations and Undertakings to You .  Each and every time (1) you solicit offers to purchase Securities at our instruction, and (2) we accept an offer from you to purchase Securities pursuant to this Agreement, we represent and warrant as follows:

 

(a)           A registration statement on Form F-3 (File No. 333-126811) in respect of the Securities has been filed with the SEC; such registration statement and any post-effective amendments thereto, each in the form heretofore delivered or to be delivered to you, excluding exhibits to such registration statement, but including all documents incorporated by reference in the prospectus contained in the registration statement, have been declared effective by the SEC in such form and no stop order suspending the effectiveness of such registration statement has been issued and no proceeding for that purpose has been initiated or threatened by the SEC;  the various parts of such registration statement, any post-effective amendments thereto and the registration statement filed pursuant to Rule 462(b) of the 1933 Act, if any, including all exhibits thereto and the documents incorporated by reference in the prospectus contained in the latest registration statement at the time such latest registration statement became effective but excluding all Forms T-1, each as amended at the time such part of the registration statement became effective or such part of the registration statement filed pursuant to Rule 462(b) of the Act, if any, became or hereafter becomes effective, are hereinafter collectively called the “Registration Statement”

 

(b)          The Securities have been duly authorized and, when the Securities are issued and delivered against payment therefor pursuant to this Agreement and any Terms Agreement relating to such Securities, will have been duly executed, authenticated, issued and delivered and will constitute valid and legally binding obligations of the Issuer entitled to the benefits provided by the Indenture, which will be substantially in the form filed as an exhibit to the Registration Statement; the Indenture has been duly authorized by the Issuer, is duly qualified under the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, a amended (the “Trust Indenture Act”), has been duly executed and delivered by the Issuer and, assuming due authorization, execution and delivery thereof by the Trustee, constitutes a valid and legally binding instrument of the Issuer enforceable in accordance with its terms, except as enforceability thereof may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, moratorium or other laws relating to or affecting the enforcement of creditors’ rights generally or by general equity principles; the Indenture conforms, and the Securities will conform, to the

 

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descriptions thereof set forth in the Prospectus or the Prospectus as amended or supplemented relating to such Securities.

 

(c)           The Registration Statement and the Prospectus conform, and any amendments or supplements thereto, when they become effective or are filed with the SEC, as the case may be, will conform, in all material respects to the requirements of the Act and the Trust Indenture Act and the rules and regulations of the SEC thereunder, and the Registration Statement and the Prospectus did not, when they became effective or were so filed, as the case may be, and any amendments or supplements thereto will not, when they become effective or are so filed, as the case may be, contain an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading; provided, however , that this representation and warranty shall not apply to any statements or omissions made in reliance upon and in conformity with information furnished in writing to the Issuer by you expressly for use in the Prospectus as amended or supplemented or any Preliminary Prospectus relating to such Securities;

 

(d)          If at any time prior to the time the Prospectus is filed with the SEC, any event occurred or occurs as a result of which the Time of Sale Information included or would include an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state any material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances prevailing at that subsequent time, not misleading, the Issuer will give prompt notice thereof to you and, if requested by you, will prepare Time of Sale Information as amended or supplemented which will correct such untrue statement or omission;

 

(e)           Since the respective dates as of which information is given in the Registration Statement, the Preliminary Prospectus and the Prospectus, as amended or supplemented, there has not been, otherwise than as set forth or contemplated in the Statutory Prospectus, the Preliminary Prospectus and the Prospectus as amended or supplemented, any material adverse change in or affecting the business, financial condition, shareholders’ equity or results of operations of the Bank and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis;

 

(f)             The Issuer will not accept offers to purchase Securities from you during any period when the Issuer shall have (a) been advised by either Moody’s Investors Services, Inc. or Standard & Poor’s, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., that such organization has determined to downgrade the rating of the Securities and such downgrade shall not yet have been publicly announced or (b) received any notice of any intended or potential downgrading, in the long-term senior unsecured debt rating accorded the Issuer by any “nationally recognized statistical rating organization,” as such term is defined for purposes of Rule 436(g)(2) under the 1933 Act;

 

(g)          PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, who have certified certain financial statements of the Issuer and its subsidiaries incorporated by reference in the Prospectus, are independent public accountants as required by the Act and the rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder; and

 

(h)          There are no legal or governmental proceedings pending to which the Issuer or any of its subsidiaries is a party or of which any property of the Issuer or any of its subsidiaries is the subject, other than as set forth in the Registration Statement, the Preliminary Prospectus and the Prospectus as amended or supplemented and other

 

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than litigation or proceedings which in each case will not have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition, shareholders’ equity or results of operations of the Issuer and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis; and, to the best of the Issuer’s knowledge, no such litigation or proceedings are threatened or contemplated by governmental authorities or threatened by others.

 

Each and every time we accept an offer from you to purchase Securities pursuant to this Agreement, we undertake to advise you (i) promptly after you receive notice thereof, of the time when the Registration Statement, or any amendment thereto, has been filed with the SEC or becomes effective or any supplement to the Prospectus or any amended Prospectus has been filed with the SEC and (ii) as soon as practicable after we receive notice thereof, of the issuance by the SEC of any stop order or of any order preventing or suspending the use of the Registration Statement and, in the event of the issuance of any stop order or of any order preventing or suspending the use of the Registration Statement, to use promptly our best efforts to obtain the withdrawal of such order.

 

The Issuer also acknowledges and agrees that (i) the purchase and sale of Securities pursuant to the Agreement, including the determination of the price for the Securities and any related discounts and commissions, is an arm’s-length commercial transaction between the Issuer, on the one hand, and you, on the other hand, (ii) in connection therewith and with the process leading to such transaction, you are acting solely as a principal and not the agent (except to the extent explicitly set forth herein) or fiduciary of the Issuer or any of its affiliates, (iii) you have not assumed any advisory or fiduciary responsibility in favor of the Issuer or any of its affiliates with respect to the offering of Securities contemplated by the Agreement or the process leading thereto (irrespective of whether you have advised or are currently advising the Issuer or any of its affiliates on other matters) or any other obligation to the Issuer or any of its affiliates with respect to any offering of Securities except the obligations explicitly set forth in the Agreement, (iv) you and your affiliates may be engaged in a broad range of transactions that involve interests that differ from those of the Issuer and its affiliates, and (v) you have not provided any legal, accounting, regulator or tax advice with respect to the transactions contemplated by the Agreement, and the Issuer has consulted its own legal and financial advisors to the extent it deemed appropriate.

 

9.                                       Opinions and Comfort Letters .  Subject to the restrictions below, the Issuer agrees that it shall provide you with the following: (i) prior to the initial issuance and delivery of Securities, and (ii) as soon as is reasonably practicable following each filing by the Issuer with the Commission of the Issuer’s annual report on Form 20-F and half-year results as filed on Form 6-K and incorporated by reference into the Registration Statement:

 

(a)                                   A letter dated on or around such filing with the Commission, of U.S. counsel to the Issuer in such counsel’s customary form to the effect that, based upon such counsel’s review of the Registration Statement and accompanying base prospectus, together with the prospectus supplement, relating to the Securities and other relevant due diligence: (A) each part of the Registration Statement, when such part become effective, appeared on its face to be appropriately responsive, in all material respects relevant to the offering of the Securities, to the requirements of the 1933 Act, the Trust Indenture Act and the applicable rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder, and (B) nothing that came to the attention of such counsel in the course of their review has caused them to believe that, insofar as relevant to the offering of such Securities, any part of the Registration Statement, including all documents incorporated by reference therein, when such part became effective, contained any untrue statement of a material fact or omitted to state any material fact required to be

 

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stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading or that the accompanying base prospectus, as supplemented by the prospectus supplement relating to the Securities, as of the date of the respective date of the filing of the Issuer’s Annual Report on Form 20-F or half-year results on Form 6-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as the case may be, contained any untrue statement of a material fact or omitted to state any material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading.  Such letter may include customary qualifications, and such counsel need not express any opinion or belief as to the financial statements or other financial data derived from accounting records contained in the Registration Statement or such prospectus or as to the statement of eligibility of the Trustee under the Indenture.

 

(b)                                  One letter from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PWC”), dated on or around such filing with the Commission, in PWC’s customary form conforming to the requirements of Statement on Auditing Standards No. 72 (or any successor standard) and containing statements and information of the type ordinarily included in accountants’ “comfort letters” concerning the financial statements and certain financial information derived from accounting records of the Issuer contained in, or incorporated by reference into, the Registration Statement and the prospectus relating to the Securities and in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to you.

 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Issuer may postpone the delivery of the opinion and letters referred to above if, in the judgment of the Issuer, the existence of a pending corporate transaction, matter or other exceptional event that has not yet been publicly disclosed, makes it impracticable or non-prudent to deliver such documents at the appointed time.  In such event, the Issuer agrees to deliver such documents as soon as reasonably practicable after such corporate transaction, matter or other exceptional event has been publicly disclosed or abandoned.

 

You acknowledge and agree that, insofar as the letters and opinion referred to in subsections (a) and (b) of this Section, or any subsequently delivered documents in substantially the same form, are concerned, such letters and opinions may not be quoted, referred to or furnished to any purchaser or prospective purchaser of any Securities and may not be used in furtherance of the offer or sale of any Securities.

 

10.                                Conditions of the Obligations of the Agent .  Your obligation under any Terms Agreement will be subject, in your reasonable discretion, to the condition that all representations and warranties and other statements of the Issuer herein are, at and as of such time of delivery of the Securities, true and correct, the condition that the Issuer shall have performed all of its obligations hereunder theretofore to be performed, and, except as otherwise provided in the applicable Terms Agreement, the following additional conditions:

 

(a)                                   Between the Time of Sale and at or prior to the time of delivery of the Securities:

 

(i)                                      there shall not have occurred any change, or any development involving a prospective change, in the business, financial condition, shareholders’ equity or results of operations of the Issuer and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis, taken as a whole, from that set forth in the Prospectus or Time of Sale Information, as amended or supplemented, and the effect of which is, in your judgment after consultation with the Issuer,  so material and adverse as to make it impracticable or inadvisable to proceed with the public offering or the delivery of the Securities on the terms and in the manner contemplated by the Time of Sale Information and the Prospectus, in each case as so amended or supplemented;

 

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(ii)           there shall not have occurred any of the following: (a) a suspension or material limitation in trading in securities generally on the New York Stock Exchange or the London Stock Exchange; (b) a general moratorium on commercial banking activities in New York declared by either U.S. federal or New York state authorities or a general moratorium on commercial banking activities in the United Kingdom declared by authorities in the United Kingdom; and (c) the United States or the United Kingdom shall have become engaged in hostilities which have resulted in the declaration of a national emergency or war the effect of which, in the case of (i), (ii) or (iii), in your judgment after consultation with the Issuer,   makes it impracticable or inadvisable to proceed with the public offering or the delivery of the Securities by you on the terms and in the manner contemplated in the   Time of Sale Information and the Prospectus, in each case as so amended or supplemented;

 

(iii)          Each Issuer Free Writing Prospectus shall have been filed by the Bank with the SEC to the extent required by Rule 433 under the Securities Act and the Prospectus as amended or supplemented shall have been filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 424(b) within the applicable time period prescribed for such filing by the rules and regulations of the SEC under the Securities Act; and

 

(iv)          there shall not have occurred any downgrading in the rating accorded the Issuer’s long-term senior unsecured debt by Moody’s Investors Services, Inc. or Standard & Poor’s Corporation and neither such organization shall have publicly announced that it has under surveillance or review, with possible negative implications, its rating of any such debt;

 

except, in each case described in subsection (i), (ii) or (iv) above, as disclosed to you in writing by the Issuer prior to the Time of Sale or (B) the relevant event shall have occurred and been known to you prior to  the Time of Sale.

 

(b)           On the Commencement Date you shall have received an opinion, dated as of such date, of Sullivan & Cromwell, special U.S. counsel to the Issuer, the form of which is attached with Schedule II.

 

11.          Compliance with Regulation M .  Unless the Securities are “exempted securities” as defined in Section 3(a)(12) of the 1934 Act, you represent that, at all times since you were invited to participate in the offering of the Securities, you have complied with the provisions of Regulation M applicable to such offering, in each case as interpreted by the Commission and after giving effect to any applicable exemptions.  If you have been notified in a Wire that we may conduct passive market making in compliance with Rule 103 of Regulation M in connection with the offering of the Securities, you represent that, at all times since your receipt of such Wire, you have complied with the provisions of such Rule applicable to such offering, as interpreted by the Commission and after giving effect to any applicable exemptions.

 

12.          Net Capital .  You represent that the incurrence by you of your obligations hereunder in connection with the offering of the Securities will not place you in violation of Rule 15c3-1 under the 1934 Act, if such requirements are applicable to you, or, if you are a financial institution subject to regulation by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Comptroller of the Currency or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, will not place you in violation of the capital requirements of such regulator or any other regulator to which you are subject.

 

13.          Payment and Delivery .  (a) You agree that Securities purchased by you pursuant to this Agreement shall be paid for in an amount equal to the initial public offering price thereof.  The placement fees, based on market conditions and other factors in existence at the time of each sale, which shall be subject to negotiation between us and you and shall be disclosed in the Prospectus

 

10



 

relating to each offering of Securities, will be payable monthly in arrears and may be waived by you.  Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, placement fees will be paid on the fifth business day of each month, for all placement fees earned by you in connection with the Securities with a pricing/trade date during the prior calendar month.  Payment shall be made in the manner and type of funds or currency specified in the Manager’s written payment instructions to you or your written payment instructions to the Manager.

 

(b)       If transactions in the Securities are to be settled through the facilities of The Depositary Trust Company (“DTC”) or any other depository or similar facility, if you are a member, the Manager is authorized, in its discretion, to make appropriate arrangements for payment in same day funds and/or delivery through DTC’s facilities of the Securities to be delivered to you for purchase by your customers, or, if you are not a member, settlement may be made through a correspondent that is a member pursuant to your timely instructions.

 

14.          Termination; Amendment .  (a) The terms and conditions set forth in (i) Section 4(e), and (ii) the second sentence of Section 5 (collectively, the “offering provisions”) will terminate with respect to each offering of Securities pursuant to this Agreement at the close of business on the 45th day after the date of the initial public offering of such Securities or at the close of business on the day of the closing of the purchase of the Securities by any underwriter pursuant to an underwriting agreement, whichever is later, unless in either such case the effectiveness of such offering provisions is extended by the Manager for a further period not exceeding 30 days or, in its discretion and whether or not extended, sooner terminated as hereinafter provided.  The Manager may terminate such offering provisions at any time by notice to you to the effect that the offering provisions of this Agreement are terminated.  All other provisions of the Agreement shall remain operative and in full force and effect with respect to such offering.

 

(b)           This Agreement may be terminated by either party hereto upon 30 business days’ written notice to the other party; provided , however , that with respect to any particular offering of Securities, if the Manager receives any such notice from you after the Manager has advised you of the amount of Securities allotted to you, this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect as to such offering and shall terminate with respect to such offering and all previous offerings only in accordance with and to the extent provided in subsection (a) of this Section.

 

15.          Indemnification .  (a)           The Issuer will indemnify and hold you harmless against any losses, claims, damages or liabilities, joint or several, to which you may become subject, under the 1933 Act or otherwise, insofar as such losses, claims, damages or liabilities (or actions in respect thereof) arise out of or are based upon an untrue statement or alleged untrue statement of a material fact contained in the Registration Statement, the Preliminary Prospectus, the Prospectus or any issuer free writing prospectus or free writing prospectus furnished by the Manager relating to the Securities, each as amended or supplemented, or arise out of or are based upon the omission or alleged omission to state therein a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading; provided , however , that neither the Issuer nor any affiliate thereof (including the Manager) shall be liable in any such case to the extent that any such loss, claim, damage or liability arises out of or is based upon an untrue statement or alleged untrue statement or omission or alleged omission made in the Registration Statement, the Preliminary Prospectus, the Prospectus, the Prospectus as amended or supplemented and any issuer free writing prospectus or free writing prospectus furnished by Manager relating to the Securities or any such amendment or supplement, in reliance upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Issuer or the Manager by you expressly for use therein, and provided, further, that we shall not be liable to you under the indemnity agreement in this subsection with respect to any Preliminary Prospectus, Prospectus or free writing prospectus to the extent that any such loss, claim, damage or liability solely results from the

 

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fact that you sold Securities to a person to whom there was not sent or given, at or prior to the written confirmation of such sale, a copy of the Prospectus or of the Prospectus as then amended or supplemented, including a copy of any document incorporated by reference therein and required to be delivered therewith, if we have previously furnished copies thereof to you.

 

(b)           You will indemnify and hold the Issuer harmless against (i) any losses, claims, damages or liabilities, joint or several, to which the Issuer may become subject under the 1933 Act or otherwise, insofar as such losses, claims, damages or liabilities (or actions in respect thereof) arise out of or are based upon an untrue statement or alleged untrue statement of a material fact contained in the Registration Statement, the Preliminary Prospectus, the Prospectus, any issuer free writing prospectus or any other prospectus relating to the Securities, each as amended or supplemented, or arise out of or are based upon the omission or alleged omission to state therein a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading, in each case only to the extent that any such loss, claim, damage or liability arises out of or is based upon an untrue statement or alleged untrue statement or omission or alleged omission made in the Registration Statement, the Preliminary Prospectus, the Prospectus, as amended or supplemented, any issuer free writing prospectus or any other prospectus relating to the Securities or any such amendment or supplement, in reliance upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Issuer or the Manager by you expressly for use therein; and (ii) any losses, claims, damages or liabilities, joint or several, to which the Issuer may become subject arising out of or in connection with a breach by you of the representations contained in Sections 18 and 19.

 

(c)           Promptly after receipt by an indemnified party under the subsection (a) or (b) of notice of the commencement of any action, such indemnified party shall, if a claim in respect thereof is to be made against the indemnifying party under such subsection, notify the indemnifying party in writing of the commencement thereof; but the omission so to notify the indemnifying party shall not relieve it from any liability which it may have to any indemnified party otherwise than under such subsection.  In case any such action shall be brought against any indemnified party and it shall notify the indemnifying party of the commencement thereof, the indemnifying party shall be entitled to participate therein and, to the extent that it shall wish, jointly with any other indemnifying party similarly notified, to assume the defense thereof, with counsel satisfactory to such indemnified party (who shall not, except with the consent of the indemnified party, be counsel to the indemnifying party), and, after notice from the indemnified party shall not be liable to such indemnified party under such subsection for any legal expenses of other counsel or any other expenses, in each case subsequently incurred by such indemnified party, in connection with the defense thereof other than reasonable costs of investigation.

 

16.          Agent; Notices .  We hereby appoint the Manager as our agent for purposes of delivering and receiving any notices, including any Wire, contemplated or permitted under this Agreement, and any notice delivered by or to the Manager shall be deemed for all purposes to have been delivered by or to the Issuer.  Any notices from the Manager to you shall be deemed to have been duly given if sent by facsimile transmission, personal delivery or registered mail to the address or facsimile number set forth at the foot of this Agreement, or at such other address or facsimile number as you shall have advised the Manager in writing.  Any notice from you to the Manager shall be sent by facsimile transmission, personal delivery or registered mail to:

 

Barclays Capital Inc.
200 Park Avenue
New York, New York 10166
Attn:       General Counsel

 

Telephone:            212-412-4000

Telecopy:              212-412-6830

 

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with a copy to:

 

Barclays Bank PLC
200 Park Avenue
New York, New York 10166
Attn:       General Counsel

 

Telephone:            212-412-4000
Telecopy:              212-412-1825

 

(or to such other address or facsimile number as you shall be notified by the Manager).

 

17.          NASD Matters .  You represent and agree that you are now and shall remain for so long as you are a party to this Agreement, a member in good standing of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (“NASD”).  You agree that in making sales of Securities you will comply with all applicable rules of the NASD, including Conduct Rules 2420, 2730, 2740, 2750 and 2790.

 

18.          Suitability Requirements .  You agree that, in connection with any offering of Securities, you are responsible for, and maintain and enforce policies designed to ensure compliance with, NASD Conduct Rule 2310, Rule 405 of the New York Stock Exchange, if applicable, and all other federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations (or rules of any self-regulatory organization) relating to the suitability of the Securities for purchase by any person to whom you sell or recommend Securities.  In complying with NASD Conduct Rule 2310, prior to recommending the purchase of any Securities, you shall have reasonable grounds for believing that the recommendation is suitable for the person to whom it is made upon the basis of facts disclosed to you by such person as to his or her other security holdings and as to his or her financial situation and needs.  Prior to executing the purchase of Securities recommended to any non-institutional customer, you shall obtain information regarding: (1) the customer’s financial status; (2) the customer’s tax status; (3) the customer’s investment objective; and, (4) any additional information used or considered to be reasonable by you in making such recommendations to the customer. You further agree that you are familiar with NASD Notice-to-Members 05-59 concerning NASD members’ obligations when selling structured products and you agree to comply materially with the recommendations therein.  “Non-institutional customer” is defined as a customer that does not qualify as an institutional account under NASD Conduct Rule 3110(c)(4).  If you sell the securities to another dealer, you will do so pursuant to a master selected dealer agreement in which the dealer to whom you are selling the securities agrees to substantially comply with the suitability requirements contained herein.

 

19.          ERISA.  You agree that, in connection with any offering of Securities, you will not sell Securities to an account, pension, profit-sharing or other employee benefit plan (a “plan”) subject to ERISA or Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”), if the purchasing, holding or disposing would constitute a non-exempt prohibited transaction under ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code.

 

20.          Governing Law . This Agreement shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York.

 

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Very truly yours,

 

 

 

BARCLAYS BANK PLC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Philippe El-Asmar

 

 

Name: Philippe El-Asmar

 

 

Title: Managing Director

 

 

 

Agreed: May 23, 2007

 

 

 

 

 

UBS FINANCIAL SERVICES INC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Eric Glicksman

 

By:

/s/ Jorge Ramirez

 

Name: Eric Glicksman

 

 

Name: Jorge Ramirez

 

Title: Managing Director

 

 

Title: Managing Director

 

 

 

 

 

(If person signing is not an officer or a managing director, please attach instrument of authorization)

 

(If person signing is not an officer or a managing director, please attach instrument of authorization)

 

 

Address:

 

 

Address:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Telephone:

 

 

Telephone:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Facsimile:

 

 

Facsimile:

 

 



 

SCHEDULE I

 

ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES

 

Primary Contact Details

 



 

SCHEDULE II

 

FORM OPINION OF SULLIVAN & CROMWELL

 


Exhibit 1.2

 

MEDIUM TERM NOTES, SERIES A

WARRANTS
AND OTHER SECURITIES OF BARCLAYS BANK PLC

 

Agency Agreement

 

March 9, 2009

 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

1.              General .  You, the undersigned, UBS Financial Services Inc. (“you” or the “Agent”), understand that Barclays Bank PLC, a public limited company organized under the laws of England and Wales (“we”, “us” or the “Issuer”), is entering into this Agency Agreement (“Agreement”) in counterparts with you to act as placement agent in connection with offerings of securities of the Issuer.  Such offerings include, without limitation, offerings made pursuant to the Amended and Restated Distribution Agreement, dated February 10, 2009 (the “Distribution Agreement”), between the Issuer and Barclays Capital Inc., as may be amended from time-to-time, relating to the Issuer’s Medium-Term Notes, Series A (the “Notes”) and certain warrants (“Warrants” and together with the Notes, the “Securities”).  The Notes will be issued pursuant to an Indenture dated as of September 16, 2004, between the Issuer and Bank of New York, as trustee (the “Trustee”) (as may be supplemented or amended from time to time, the “Note Indenture”).  The Warrants will be issued under the Warrant Indenture (as it may be amended or supplemented from time to time, the “Warrant Indenture”) to be entered into between the Issuer and the Trustee, or under one or more separate warrant agreements (each, a “Warrant Agreement”) between the Issuer and one or more institutions, as warrant agent, each identified in such Warrant Agreement (each, a “Warrant Agent”). The term “Manager” herein means Barclays Capital Inc. acting in such capacity as lead agent.

 

At or prior to the time of an offering, the Manager will advise you, to the extent applicable, by wire, facsimile, electronic data transmission or other written communication (“Wire”) as to the expected offering date, the expected closing date, the initial public offering price, the interest or dividend rate (or the method by which such rate is to be determined), the conversion price, if applicable, the gross fee, the underwriting and management fee or placement fee, the selling concession, the reallowance, the time of release of securities for sale to the public, the time at which subscription books will be opened, the amount, if any, of securities reserved for purchase by your customers, the period of such reservation and the amount of securities to be allotted to your customers, and stating that the purchase in an offering of securities will become effective following our receipt of your acceptance on behalf of your customers.  Each offering will be conducted in the manner as may be agreed between you and the Issuer.  If you have not previously executed this Agreement, by the purchase by customers for which you have acted as Agent in an offering covered by this Agreement you shall be deemed to be a signatory hereof with respect to such offering.

 

The securities to be purchased in any offering of securities in which you agree to participate as an agent pursuant to this Agreement, including any guarantees relating to such securities or any other securities into which such securities are convertible or for which such securities are exercisable or exchangeable and any securities that may be purchased upon exercise of an over allotment option, are hereinafter referred to as the “Securities”.

 

The following provisions of this Agreement shall apply separately to each individual offering of Securities.

 



 

2.              Allotments .  The purchase of Securities by your customers will be made on the basis of a reservation of Securities and an allotment against subscriptions.  Any application for additional Securities will be subject to rejection in whole or in part.  Subscription books may be closed by us at any time in our discretion without notice and the right is reserved to reject any subscription in whole or in part.

 

You will make reasonable efforts to obtain performance by each purchaser of Securities for whom you are acting as agent, but you will not have any liability to the Issuer in the event any such purchase is not consummated for any reason.

 

3.              Offering Materials .  (a) You understand that registration of the offer and sale of the Securities is required under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”).  In connection with any offering of Securities, we or our affiliate shall make available to you at our expense such numbers of copies of the Time of Sale Information and of the Prospectus (in each case as defined below and other than information incorporated by reference therein) as you may reasonably request for the purposes of the 1933 Act and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “1934 Act”), and the applicable rules and regulations thereunder.  You represent and warrant that you are familiar with Rule 173 under the 1933 Act, as well as Rule 15c2-8 (or any successor provision) under the 1934 Act and agree that you will comply with the requirements of each Rule.

 

“Preliminary Prospectus” means any preliminary pricing supplement relating to an offering of Securities filed or to be filed under Rule 424 of the 1933 Act, together with the prospectus supplement (including any “product” supplements) and prospectus relating to the Securities.

 

“Prospectus” means the final pricing supplement relating to an offering of Securities filed or to be filed under Rule 424 of the 1933 Act, together with the prospectus supplement (including any “product” supplements) and prospectus relating to the Securities.

 

“Free writing prospectus” has the meaning set forth in Rule 405 under the 1933 Act and “Permitted Free Writing Prospectus” means (i) a free writing prospectus authorized for use by the Issuer in connection with an offering of Securities that has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission” or “SEC”) in accordance with Rule 433(d) of the 1933 Act; (ii) a free writing prospectus containing a description of terms of the Securities that (1) does not reflect the final terms and (2) is exempt from the filing requirement pursuant to Rule 433(d)(5)(i) under the 1933 Act; or (iii) a free writing prospectus that (1) does not contain substantive changes from or additions to a free writing prospectus previously filed with the Commission and (2) is exempt from the filing requirement pursuant to Rule 433(d)(3) under the 1933 Act.

 

“Time of Sale” means, with respect to each offering of Securities, the time that is after the time of acceptance by us of an offer for the purchase of such Securities pursuant to this Agreement or the time of agreement to sell such Securities to you pursuant to, and as stated in, the applicable Terms Agreement, as the case may be.

 

“Time of Sale Information” means the Preliminary Prospectus together with each Permitted Free Writing Prospectus, if any, in connection with sales of a particular issue of Securities, considered together as of the Time of Sale.

 

(b)            You agree that you will not use, authorize use of, refer to, or participate in the planning for use of any written communication (as defined in Rule 405 under the 1933 Act) concerning the Issuer or any offering of Securities (including without limitation any free writing prospectus and any information furnished by any issuer of the Securities but not incorporated by

 

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reference into the Preliminary Prospectus or Prospectus) other than: (i) any Preliminary Prospectus or Prospectus; (ii) any Permitted Free Writing Prospectus; (iii) a free writing prospectus that would not constitute an “issuer free writing prospectus” as such term is defined in Rule 433(h)(1) under the 1933 Act, including any free writing prospectus required to be filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 433(d)(1)(ii) under the 1933 Act; or (iv) any communications that comply with Rule 134 or Rule 135 under the 1933 Act, which communication is furnished to you by the Issuer or Manager.

 

(c)            You represent and agree that any Time of Sale Information made available to you by the Issuer or the Manager in connection with an offering of Securities, if not publicly available on the SEC’s website, will be conveyed to each person to whom you sell or deliver Securities prior to entering into a contract of sale with such person, agree to make a record of your distribution of such Time of Sale Information and agree, once furnished with copies of any revised Preliminary Prospectus or Permitted Free Writing Prospectus or a new Permitted Free Writing Prospectus revising or supplementing the terms of the Preliminary Prospectus or a previous Permitted Free Writing Prospectus, if not publicly available on the SEC’s website, to promptly forward copies thereof to each person to whom you have theretofore distributed a Preliminary Prospectus or Permitted Free Writing Prospectus prior to entering into any contract of sale with such person.

 

(d)            The Issuer will, whether or not any sale of Securities is consummated, pay all expenses incident to the performance of its obligations under this Agreement and any Terms Agreement, including: (i) the preparation and filing of the Registration Statement, the Prospectus and all amendments and supplements thereto, and Time of Sale Information, (ii) the preparation, issuance and delivery of the Securities, (iii) the fees and disbursements of the Issuer’s counsel and accountants and of the Trustee and its counsel, (iv) the qualification of the Securities under securities or Blue Sky laws in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement, including filing fees and the fees and disbursements of your counsel in connection therewith and in connection with the preparation of any Blue Sky or Legal Investment Memoranda, (v) the printing and delivery to you in quantities as hereinabove stated of copies of the Registration Statement and all amendments thereto, of the Prospectus and any amendments or supplements thereto, and the Time of Sale Information (vi) the printing and delivery to you of copies of, in the case of Notes, the Note Indenture and, in the case of Warrants, the Warrant Indenture or the relevant Warrant Agreement, as applicable, and any Blue Sky or Legal Investment Memoranda, (vii) any fees charged by rating agencies for the rating of the Notes or Warrants, if applicable, and (viii) the fees and expenses, if any, incurred with respect to any filing with the the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”).

 

4.              Offering of the Securities .

 

(a)            Subject to the terms and conditions set forth herein and to the reservation by the Issuer of the right to (i) sell Securities directly on its own behalf at any time and to any person, (ii) cause additional agents to enter into similar agreements from time to time, (iii) sell Securities to any agent, acting as principal, for its own account or for resale to one or more investors or to another broker-dealer, acting as principal, for purpose of resale, and (iv) accept offers to purchase Securities through other agents on substantially the same terms and conditions as would apply to you, we hereby appoint you our agent for the purpose of soliciting and receiving offers to purchase Securities on our behalf.

 

(c)            On the basis of the representations and warranties and subject to the terms and conditions set forth herein, you agree to use reasonable efforts to solicit and receive offers to purchase Securities or place Securities upon the terms and conditions set forth in the Preliminary Prospectus or Time of Sale Information as then amended or supplemented.

 

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(d)            The Issuer reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to suspend, at any time and for any period, the solicitation of offers to purchase Securities.  Upon receipt of any notice of such suspension from the Issuer, the Agent shall as soon as possible, but in no event later than one business day in New York City after receipt of such notice, suspend its solicitation of offers to purchase Securities until the Issuer shall have advised the Agent that such solicitation may be resumed.

 

(e)            You shall promptly communicate to the Issuer, orally or in writing, each offer to purchase Securities received by you, other than offers rejected by you pursuant to the next sentence.  You shall have the right, in your discretion reasonably exercised, to reject as unreasonable any offer to purchase Securities received by you and no such rejection shall be deemed a breach of your obligations hereunder.  We shall have the sole right to accept offers to purchase Securities and may, in our sole discretion, reject any offer in whole or in part.

 

(f)             The offering of the Securities is made subject to the conditions referred to in the Prospectus and to the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement and any Wire.  After the public offering of the Securities has commenced, the Issuer may change the public offering price, the selling concession, the reallowance to dealers and the placement fee to brokers and agents.  To the extent that any of the foregoing changes affect you, we will notify you promptly.  Any of the Securities offered by you pursuant to this Agreement are to be offered, subject to their receipt and acceptance by the Manager to the public at the initial public offering price, subject to the terms of this Agreement and the Prospectus.

 

(g)            The Securities shall not be offered or sold by you to any dealer, other than your affiliates.

 

(h)            If required under applicable law, a single transfer tax upon the sale of the Securities by the Issuer to your customers will be paid by us when such Securities are delivered to your customers.  However, your customers shall be liable for and pay any other transfer tax, withholding or any other taxes they may incur or are otherwise payable in connection with a purchase, holding, disposition or redemption of the Securities.

 

(i)             Unless otherwise agreed between you and us, for each offering of Securities (i) the delivery of the Securities shall be made against payment for those Securities on the third business days after the “pricing” or “trade” date and (ii) the final payment or delivery in respect of the Securities shall be made on the third business day after the “final valuation date”, “final observation date” or “final averaging date” as such terms are defined in the applicable Prospectus.

 

(j)             Subsequent to the initial offering of the Securities and for so long as the Securities remain outstanding, we agree that, absent a market disruption event as such term is defined in the applicable Prospectus, we will purchase any Securities in the open market from your customers at our published bid price for amounts up to, in the case of Notes, $100,000 and, in the case of Warrants, a certain limit as agreed to by the parties hereto or, if intraday, at the price quoted by us to you for any aggregate amount you request.

 

(k)            Purchases as Principal .  Each sale of Securities to you as principal shall be made in accordance with the terms of this Agreement.  In connection with each such sale, the Issuer will enter into a Terms Agreement that will provide for the sale of such Securities to and the purchase thereof by you.  Each Terms Agreement will take the form of either (i) a written agreement, the form of which will be agreed upon between you and the Issuer (a “ Written Terms Agreement ”), or (ii) an oral agreement between you and the Issuer confirmed in writing by either you to the Issuer or the Issuer to you.

 

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Your commitment to purchase Securities as principal pursuant to a Terms Agreement shall be deemed to have been made on the basis of the representations and warranties of the Issuer herein contained and shall be subject to the terms and conditions herein set forth.  Each Terms Agreement relating to the Securities shall specify the amount of Securities to be purchased by you pursuant thereto, the price to be paid to the Issuer for such Securities, and any other terms of such Securities.

 

Each Terms Agreement shall specify the time and place of delivery of and payment for such Securities, as the case may be.  Unless otherwise specified in a Terms Agreement, the procedural details relating to the issue and delivery of Securities purchased by you as principal and the payment therefor shall be agreed upon by the parties hereto.  Each date of delivery of and payment for Securities to be purchased by you as principal pursuant to a Terms Agreement, as the case may be, is referred to herein as a “Settlement Date.”

 

5.              Stabilization and Over Allotment .  One or more of our affiliates may, with respect to any offering of Securities, be authorized to over allot, to purchase and sell Securities for long or short account and to stabilize or maintain the market price of the Securities.  You agree that upon our request at any time and from time to time prior to the termination of the effectiveness of this Agreement with respect to an offering of Securities, you will report the amount of Securities purchased by your customers.

 

6.              Legal Responsibility .  (a) The Issuer, as such, shall have full authority to take such action as it deems advisable in all matters pertaining to the offering of the Securities or arising under this Agreement.

 

(b)            After each offering of Securities and for so long as the Securities remain outstanding, the Issuer, through the Manager, shall use reasonable efforts to provide information, including publication on each business day of bid and mid-offer prices with a spread of no more than 1.0%, to assist you in obtaining timely pricing information concerning the Securities for which you act as agent.

 

7.              Your Representations to Us .  Each and every time you act as agent in connection with the sale of any of the Securities to one of your customers, you represent and warrant as follows:

 

(a)            You maintain and enforce policies designed to ensure compliance with all applicable federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations (or rules of any self-regulatory organization) relating to maintenance of information and the suitability of the Securities for purchase by that customer.

 

(b)            You maintain and enforce policies designed to ensure compliance with all applicable provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, as amended by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (“ERISA”), and the rules and regulations of the Department of Labor.

 

(c)            You maintain and enforce policies designed to ensure compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations, including the provisions of the 1933 Act and the 1934 Act and the rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder, the rules and regulations of any securities exchange having jurisdiction over the offering and the laws, rules and regulations of any applicable regulatory body.

 

(d)            You further represent and agree that you have implemented and currently maintain (and shall maintain for so long as you are a party to this Agreement) an anti-money laundering (“AML”) program (including, without limitation, an effective customer identification program) that

 

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satisfies the requirements of (i) Section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act (Pub. L. 107-56) and the regulations promulgated thereunder and (ii) all applicable federal, state or local laws, rules or  regulations of its own jurisdiction including but not limited to, where applicable, the Bank Secrecy Act (as amended by the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 (the “Act”)). You further represent that you will adopt appropriate policies, procedures and internal controls to be fully compliant with any additional laws, rules or regulations, including the Bank Secrecy Act, to which it may become subject.

 

(e)            In the event you receive notice that the Prospectus relating to an offering is being amended by the Issuer, you shall either await receipt of the amended Prospectus before providing the same to customers, or if a Prospectus has previously been provided to your customers, provide the amended Prospectus to your customers immediately upon receipt thereof from the Issuer.

 

(f)             The information contained in any Permitted Free Writing Prospectus prepared by you in connection with any offering of Securities, and authorized by us, will be consistent in all material respects with our previous filings with the SEC, including but not limited to “issuer free writing prospectuses” as that term is defined in Rule 433(h)(1) under the 1933 Act and prospectuses filed pursuant to Rule 424 under the 1933 Act.

 

8.              Our Representations and Undertakings to You .  Each and every time (1) you solicit offers to purchase Securities at our instruction, and (2) we accept an offer from you to purchase Securities pursuant to this Agreement, we represent and warrant as follows:

 

(a)    A registration statement on Form F-3 (File No. 333-126811) in respect of the Securities has been filed with the SEC; such registration statement and any post-effective amendments thereto, each in the form heretofore delivered or to be delivered to you, excluding exhibits to such registration statement, but including all documents incorporated by reference in the prospectus contained in the registration statement, have been declared effective by the SEC in such form and no stop order suspending the effectiveness of such registration statement has been issued and no proceeding for that purpose has been initiated or threatened by the SEC;  the various parts of such registration statement, any post-effective amendments thereto and the registration statement filed pursuant to Rule 462(b) of the 1933 Act, if any, including all exhibits thereto and the documents incorporated by reference in the prospectus contained in the latest registration statement at the time such latest registration statement became effective but excluding all Forms T-1, each as amended at the time such part of the registration statement became effective or such part of the registration statement filed pursuant to Rule 462(b) of the Act, if any, became or hereafter becomes effective, are hereinafter collectively called the “Registration Statement”

 

(b)    The Securities have been duly authorized and, when the Securities are issued and delivered against payment therefor pursuant to this Agreement and any Terms Agreement relating to such Securities, will have been duly executed, authenticated, issued and delivered and will constitute valid and legally binding obligations of the Issuer entitled to the benefits provided by, in the case of Notes, the Note Indenture, and in the case of Warrants, the Warrant Indenture or the relevant Warrant Agreement, as applicable, each of which will be substantially in the form filed as an exhibit to the Registration Statement; the Note Indenture, Warrant Indenture and each Warrant Agreement has been duly authorized by the Issuer and, in the case of Note Indenture and Warrant Indenture, is duly qualified under the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, a amended (the “Trust Indenture Act”), has been duly executed and delivered

 

6



 

by the Issuer and, assuming due authorization, execution and delivery thereof by the Trustee or Warrant Agent, as applicable, constitutes a valid and legally binding instrument of the Issuer enforceable in accordance with its terms, except as enforceability thereof may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, moratorium or other laws relating to or affecting the enforcement of creditors’ rights generally or by general equity principles; the Note Indenture, Warrant Indenture and each Warrant Agreement conforms, and the Securities will conform, to the descriptions thereof set forth in the Prospectus or the Prospectus as amended or supplemented relating to such Securities.

 

(c)    The Registration Statement and the Prospectus conform, and any amendments or supplements thereto, when they become effective or are filed with the SEC, as the case may be, will conform, in all material respects to the requirements of the Act and, in the case of an offering of Notes or Warrants issued under the Warrant Indenture, the Trust Indenture Act and the rules and regulations of the SEC thereunder, and the Registration Statement and the Prospectus did not, when they became effective or were so filed, as the case may be, and any amendments or supplements thereto will not, when they become effective or are so filed, as the case may be, contain an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading; provided, however , that this representation and warranty shall not apply to any statements or omissions made in reliance upon and in conformity with information furnished in writing to the Issuer by you expressly for use in the Prospectus as amended or supplemented or any Preliminary Prospectus relating to such Securities;

 

(d)    If at any time prior to the time the Prospectus is filed with the SEC, any event occurred or occurs as a result of which the Time of Sale Information included or would include an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state any material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances prevailing at that subsequent time, not misleading, the Issuer will give prompt notice thereof to you and, if requested by you, will prepare Time of Sale Information as amended or supplemented which will correct such untrue statement or omission;

 

(e)    Since the respective dates as of which information is given in the Registration Statement, the Preliminary Prospectus and the Prospectus, as amended or supplemented, there has not been, otherwise than as set forth or contemplated in the Statutory Prospectus, the Preliminary Prospectus and the Prospectus as amended or supplemented, any material adverse change in or affecting the business, financial condition, shareholders’ equity or results of operations of the Issuer and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis;

 

(f)     The Issuer will not accept offers to purchase Securities from you during any period when the Issuer shall have (a) been advised by either Moody’s Investors Services, Inc. or Standard & Poor’s, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., that such organization has determined to downgrade the rating of the Securities and such downgrade shall not yet have been publicly announced or (b) received any notice of any intended or potential downgrading, in the long-term senior unsecured debt rating accorded the Issuer by any “nationally recognized statistical rating organization,” as such term is defined for purposes of Rule 436(g)(2) under the 1933 Act;

 

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(g)    PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, who have certified certain financial statements of the Issuer and its subsidiaries incorporated by reference in the Prospectus, are independent public accountants as required by the Act and the rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder; and

 

(h)    There are no legal or governmental proceedings pending to which the Issuer or any of its subsidiaries is a party or of which any property of the Issuer or any of its subsidiaries is the subject, other than as set forth in the Registration Statement, the Preliminary Prospectus and the Prospectus as amended or supplemented and other than litigation or proceedings which in each case will not have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition, shareholders’ equity or results of operations of the Issuer and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis; and, to the best of the Issuer’s knowledge, no such litigation or proceedings are threatened or contemplated by governmental authorities or threatened by others.

 

Each and every time we accept an offer from you to purchase Securities pursuant to this Agreement, we undertake to advise you (i) promptly after you receive notice thereof, of the time when the Registration Statement, or any amendment thereto, has been filed with the SEC or becomes effective or any supplement to the Prospectus or any amended Prospectus has been filed with the SEC and (ii) as soon as practicable after we receive notice thereof, of the issuance by the SEC of any stop order or of any order preventing or suspending the use of the Registration Statement and, in the event of the issuance of any stop order or of any order preventing or suspending the use of the Registration Statement, to use promptly our best efforts to obtain the withdrawal of such order.

 

The Issuer also acknowledges and agrees that (i) the purchase and sale of Securities pursuant to the Agreement, including the determination of the price for the Securities and any related discounts and commissions, is an arm’s-length commercial transaction between the Issuer, on the one hand, and you, on the other hand, (ii) in connection therewith and with the process leading to such transaction, you are acting solely as a principal and not the agent (except to the extent explicitly set forth herein) or fiduciary of the Issuer or any of its affiliates, (iii) you have not assumed any advisory or fiduciary responsibility in favor of the Issuer or any of its affiliates with respect to the offering of Securities contemplated by the Agreement or the process leading thereto (irrespective of whether you have advised or are currently advising the Issuer or any of its affiliates on other matters) or any other obligation to the Issuer or any of its affiliates with respect to any offering of Securities except the obligations explicitly set forth in the Agreement, (iv) you and your affiliates may be engaged in a broad range of transactions that involve interests that differ from those of the Issuer and its affiliates, and (v) you have not provided any legal, accounting, regulator or tax advice with respect to the transactions contemplated by the Agreement, and the Issuer has consulted its own legal and financial advisors to the extent it deemed appropriate.

 

9.              Opinions and Comfort Letters .  Subject to the restrictions below, the Issuer agrees that it shall provide you with the following: (i) prior to the initial issuance and delivery of Securities, and (ii) as soon as is reasonably practicable following each filing by the Issuer with the Commission of the Issuer’s annual report on Form 20-F and half-year results as filed on Form 6-K and incorporated by reference into the Registration Statement:

 

(a)            A letter dated on or around such filing with the Commission, of U.S. counsel to the Issuer in such counsel’s customary form to the effect that, based upon such counsel’s review of the

 

8



 

Registration Statement and accompanying base prospectus, together with the prospectus supplement, relating to the Securities and other relevant due diligence: (A) each part of the Registration Statement, when such part become effective, appeared on its face to be appropriately responsive, in all material respects relevant to the offering of the Securities, to the requirements of the 1933 Act, the Trust Indenture Act in the case of an offering of Notes or Warrants issued under the Warrant Indenture and the applicable rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder, and (B) nothing that came to the attention of such counsel in the course of their review has caused them to believe that, insofar as relevant to the offering of such Securities, any part of the Registration Statement, including all documents incorporated by reference therein, when such part became effective, contained any untrue statement of a material fact or omitted to state any material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading or that the accompanying base prospectus, as supplemented by the prospectus supplement relating to the Securities, as of the date of the respective date  of the filing of the Issuer’s Annual Report on Form 20-F or half-year results on Form 6-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as the case may be, contained any untrue statement of a material fact or omitted to state any material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading.  Such letter may include customary qualifications, and such counsel need not express any opinion or belief as to the financial statements or other financial data derived from accounting records contained in the Registration Statement or such prospectus or as to the statement of eligibility of the Trustee under, in the case of Notes, the Note Indenture and, in the case of Warrants issued under the Warrant Indenture, the Warrant Indenture.

 

(b)            One letter from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PWC”), dated on or around such filing with the Commission, in PWC’s customary form conforming to the requirements of Statement on Auditing Standards No. 72 (or any successor standard) and containing statements and information of the type ordinarily included in accountants’ “comfort letters” concerning the financial statements and certain financial information derived from accounting records of the Issuer contained in, or incorporated by reference into, the Registration Statement and the prospectus relating to the Securities and in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to you.

 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Issuer may postpone the delivery of the opinion and letters referred to above if, in the judgment of the Issuer, the existence of a pending corporate transaction, matter or other exceptional event that has not yet been publicly disclosed, makes it impracticable or non-prudent to deliver such documents at the appointed time.  In such event, the Issuer agrees to deliver such documents as soon as reasonably practicable after such corporate transaction, matter or other exceptional event has been publicly disclosed or abandoned.

 

You acknowledge and agree that, insofar as the letters and opinion referred to in subsections (a) and (b) of this Section, or any subsequently delivered documents in substantially the same form, are concerned, such letters and opinions may not be quoted, referred to or furnished to any purchaser or prospective purchaser of any Securities and may not be used in furtherance of the offer or sale of any Securities.

 

10.           Conditions of the Obligations of the Agent .  Your obligation under any Terms Agreement will be subject, in your reasonable discretion, to the condition that all representations and warranties and other statements of the Issuer herein are, at and as of such time of delivery of the Securities, true and correct, the condition that the Issuer shall have performed all of its obligations hereunder theretofore to be performed, and, except as otherwise provided in the applicable Terms Agreement, the following additional conditions:

 

(a)            Between the Time of Sale and at or prior to the time of delivery of the Securities:

 

9



 

(i)             there shall not have occurred any change, or any development involving a prospective change, in the business, financial condition, shareholders’ equity or results of operations of the Issuer and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis, taken as a whole, from that set forth in the Prospectus or Time of Sale Information, as amended or supplemented, and the effect of which is, in your judgment after consultation with the Issuer,  so material and adverse  as to make it impracticable or inadvisable to proceed with the public offering or the delivery of the Securities on the terms and in the manner contemplated by the Time of Sale Information and the Prospectus, in each case as so amended or supplemented;

 

(ii)            there shall not have occurred any of the following: (a) a suspension or material limitation in trading in securities generally on the New York Stock Exchange or the London Stock Exchange; (b) a general moratorium on commercial banking activities in New York declared by either U.S. federal or New York state authorities or a general moratorium on commercial banking activities in the United Kingdom declared by authorities in the United Kingdom; and (c) the United States or the United Kingdom shall have become engaged in hostilities which have resulted in the declaration of a national emergency or war the effect of which, in the case of (i), (ii) or (iii), in your judgment after consultation with the Issuer,   makes it impracticable or inadvisable to proceed with the public offering or the delivery of the Securities by you on the terms and in the manner contemplated in the   Time of Sale Information and the Prospectus, in each case as so amended or supplemented;

 

(iii)           Each Issuer Free Writing Prospectus shall have been filed by the Issuer with the SEC to the extent required by Rule 433 under the Securities Act and the Prospectus as amended or supplemented shall have been filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 424(b) within the applicable time period prescribed for such filing by the rules and regulations of the SEC under the Securities Act; and

 

(iv)           there shall not have occurred any downgrading in the rating accorded the Issuer’s long-term senior unsecured debt by Moody’s Investors Services, Inc. or Standard & Poor’s Corporation and neither such organization shall have publicly announced that it has under surveillance or review, with possible negative implications, its rating of any such debt;

 

except, in each case described in subsection (i), (ii) or (iv) above, as disclosed to you in writing by the Issuer prior to the Time of Sale or (B) the relevant event shall have occurred and been known to you prior to  the Time of Sale.

 

(b)            On the Commencement Date you shall have received an opinion, dated as of such date, of Sullivan & Cromwell, special U.S. counsel to the Issuer, the form of which is attached with Schedule I.

 

11.           Compliance with Regulation M .  Unless the Securities are “exempted securities” as defined in Section 3(a)(12) of the 1934 Act, you represent that, at all times since you were invited to participate in the offering of the Securities, you have complied with the provisions of Regulation M applicable to such offering, in each case as interpreted by the Commission and after giving effect to any applicable exemptions.  If you have been notified in a Wire that we may conduct passive market making in compliance with Rule 103 of Regulation M in connection with the offering of the Securities, you represent that, at all times since your receipt of such Wire, you have complied with the provisions of such Rule applicable to such offering, as interpreted by the Commission and after giving effect to any applicable exemptions.

 

10



 

12.          Net Capital .  You represent that the incurrence by you of your obligations hereunder in connection with the offering of the Securities will not place you in violation of Rule 15c3-1 under the 1934 Act, if such requirements are applicable to you, or, if you are a financial institution subject to regulation by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Comptroller of the Currency or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, will not place you in violation of the capital requirements of such regulator or any other regulator to which you are subject.

 

13.          Payment and Delivery .  (a) You agree that Securities purchased by you pursuant to this Agreement shall be paid for in an amount equal to the initial public offering price thereof.  The placement fees, based on market conditions and other factors in existence at the time of each sale, which shall be subject to negotiation between us and you and shall be disclosed in the Prospectus relating to each offering of Securities, will be payable monthly in arrears and may be waived by you.  Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, placement fees will be paid on the fifth business day of each month, for all placement fees earned by you in connection with the Securities with a pricing/trade date during the prior calendar month.  Payment shall be made in the manner and type of funds or currency specified in the Manager’s written payment instructions to you or your written payment instructions to the Manager.

 

(b)       If transactions in the Securities are to be settled through the facilities of The Depositary Trust Company (“DTC”) or any other depository or similar facility, if you are a member, the Manager is authorized, in its discretion, to make appropriate arrangements for payment in same day funds and/or delivery through DTC’s facilities of the Securities to be delivered to you for purchase by your customers, or, if you are not a member, settlement may be made through a correspondent that is a member pursuant to your timely instructions.

 

14.          Termination .  (a) The terms and conditions set forth in (i) Section 4(e), and (ii) the second sentence of Section 5 (collectively, the “offering provisions”) will terminate with respect to each offering of Securities pursuant to this Agreement at the close of business on the 45th day after the date of the initial public offering of such Securities or at the close of business on the day of the closing of the purchase of the Securities by any underwriter pursuant to an underwriting agreement, whichever is later, unless in either such case the effectiveness of such offering provisions is extended by the Manager for a further period not exceeding 30 days or, in its discretion and whether or not extended, sooner terminated as hereinafter provided.  The Manager may terminate such offering provisions at any time by notice to you to the effect that the offering provisions of this Agreement are terminated.  All other provisions of the Agreement shall remain operative and in full force and effect with respect to such offering.

 

(b)           This Agreement may be terminated by either party hereto upon 30 business days’ written notice to the other party; provided , however , that with respect to any particular offering of Securities, if the Manager receives any such notice from you after the Manager has advised you of the amount of Securities allotted to you, this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect as to such offering and shall terminate with respect to such offering and all previous offerings only in accordance with and to the extent provided in subsection (a) of this Section.

 

15.          Indemnification .  (a)           The Issuer will indemnify and hold you harmless against any losses, claims, damages or liabilities, joint or several, to which you may become subject, under the 1933 Act or otherwise, insofar as such losses, claims, damages or liabilities (or actions in respect thereof) arise out of or are based upon an untrue statement or alleged untrue statement of a material fact contained in the Registration Statement, the Preliminary Prospectus, the Prospectus or any issuer free writing prospectus or free writing prospectus furnished by the Manager relating to the Securities, each as amended or supplemented, or arise out of or are based upon the omission or alleged omission to state

 

11



 

therein a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading; provided , however , that neither the Issuer nor any affiliate thereof (including the Manager) shall be liable in any such case to the extent that any such loss, claim, damage or liability arises out of or is based upon an untrue statement or alleged untrue statement or omission or alleged omission made in the Registration Statement, the Preliminary Prospectus, the Prospectus, the Prospectus as amended or supplemented and any issuer free writing prospectus or free writing prospectus furnished by Manager relating to the Securities or any such amendment or supplement, in reliance upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Issuer or the Manager by you expressly for use therein, and provided, further, that we shall not be liable to you under the indemnity agreement in this subsection with respect to any Preliminary Prospectus, Prospectus or free writing prospectus to the extent that any such loss, claim, damage or liability solely results from the fact that you sold Securities to a person to whom there was not sent or given, at or prior to the written confirmation of such sale, a copy of the Prospectus or of the Prospectus as then amended or supplemented, including a copy of any document incorporated by reference therein and required to be delivered therewith, if we have previously furnished copies thereof to you.

 

(b)           You will indemnify and hold the Issuer harmless against (i) any losses, claims, damages or liabilities, joint or several, to which the Issuer may become subject under the 1933 Act or otherwise, insofar as such losses, claims, damages or liabilities (or actions in respect thereof) arise out of or are based upon an untrue statement or alleged untrue statement of a material fact contained in the Registration Statement, the Preliminary Prospectus, the Prospectus, any issuer free writing prospectus or any other prospectus relating to the Securities, each as amended or supplemented, or arise out of or are based upon the omission or alleged omission to state therein a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading, in each case only to the extent that any such loss, claim, damage or liability arises out of or is based upon an untrue statement or alleged untrue statement or omission or alleged omission made in the Registration Statement, the Preliminary Prospectus, the Prospectus, as amended or supplemented, any issuer free writing prospectus or any other prospectus relating to the Securities or any such amendment or supplement, in reliance upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Issuer or the Manager by you expressly for use therein; and (ii) any losses, claims, damages or liabilities, joint or several, to which the Issuer may become subject arising out of or in connection with a breach by you of the representations contained in Sections 18 and 19.

 

(c)           Promptly after receipt by an indemnified party under the subsection (a) or (b) of notice of the commencement of any action, such indemnified party shall, if a claim in respect thereof is to be made against the indemnifying party under such subsection, notify the indemnifying party in writing of the commencement thereof; but the omission so to notify the indemnifying party shall not relieve it from any liability which it may have to any indemnified party otherwise than under such subsection.  In case any such action shall be brought against any indemnified party and it shall notify the indemnifying party of the commencement thereof, the indemnifying party shall be entitled to participate therein and, to the extent that it shall wish, jointly with any other indemnifying party similarly notified, to assume the defense thereof, with counsel satisfactory to such indemnified party (who shall not, except with the consent of the indemnified party, be counsel to the indemnifying party), and, after notice from the indemnified party shall not be liable to such indemnified party under such subsection for any legal expenses of other counsel or any other expenses, in each case subsequently incurred by such indemnified party, in connection with the defense thereof other than reasonable costs of investigation.

 

16.          Agent; Notices .  We hereby appoint the Manager as our agent for purposes of delivering and receiving any notices, including any Wire, contemplated or permitted under this Agreement, and any notice delivered by or to the Manager shall be deemed for all purposes to have been delivered by or to

 

12



 

the Issuer.  Any notices from the Manager to you shall be deemed to have been duly given if sent by facsimile transmission, personal delivery or registered mail to the address or facsimile number set forth at the foot of this Agreement, or at such other address or facsimile number as you shall have advised the Manager in writing.  Any notice from you to the Manager shall be sent by facsimile transmission, personal delivery or registered mail to:

 

Barclays Capital Inc.
200 Park Avenue
New York, New York 10166
Attn:       General Counsel

 

Telephone:            212-412-4000
Telecopy:              212-412-6830

 

with a copy to:

 

Barclays Bank PLC
200 Park Avenue
New York, New York 10166
Attn:       General Counsel

 

Telephone:            212-412-4000
Telecopy:              212-412-1825

 

(or to such other address or facsimile number as you shall be notified by the Manager).

 

17.          FINRA Matters .  You represent and agree that you are now and shall remain for so long as you are a party to this Agreement, a member in good standing of the FINRA.  You agree that in making sales of Securities you will comply with all applicable rules of the FINRA, including Conduct Rules 2420, 2730, 2740, 2750 and 2790.

 

18.          Suitability Requirements and Other Customer Conduct Rules .  You agree that, in connection with any offering of Securities, you are responsible for, and maintain and enforce policies designed to ensure compliance with, NASD Conduct Rule 2310, FINRA Rules 2350, 2351, 2352, 2353, 2354, 2355, 2356, 2357, 2358 and 2359, if applicable, Rule 405 of the New York Stock Exchange, if applicable, and all other federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations (or rules of any self-regulatory organization) relating to the suitability of the Securities for purchase by any person to whom you sell or recommend Securities.  In complying with NASD Conduct Rule 2310, prior to recommending the purchase of any Securities, you shall have reasonable grounds for believing that the recommendation is suitable for the person to whom it is made upon the basis of facts disclosed to you by such person as to his or her other security holdings and as to his or her financial situation and needs.  Prior to executing the purchase of Securities recommended to any non-institutional customer, you shall obtain information regarding: (1) the customer’s financial status; (2) the customer’s tax status; (3) the customer’s investment objective; and, (4) any additional information used or considered to be reasonable by you in making such recommendations to the customer. In complying with FINRA Rule 2353, prior to recommending the purchase of any Warrants, you shall have reasonable grounds to believe upon the basis of information furnished by such customer after reasonable inquiry by you concerning the customer’s investment objectives, financial situation and needs, and any other information known by you, that the recommended transaction is not unsuitable for such customer. In complying with FINRA Rule 2352, prior to accepting an order from a customer to purchase any Warrant that is the subject of an options disclosure document, or approving the

 

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customer’s account for the trading of such Warrant, you shall have furnished to the customer the appropriate options disclosure document(s) and the customer’s account has been approved for options trading in accordance with the provisions of FINRA Rule 2360(b)(16) (B) through (D). You further agree that you are familiar with NASD Notice-to-Members 05-59 concerning FINRA members’ obligations when selling structured products and you agree to comply materially with the recommendations therein.  “Non-institutional customer” is defined as a customer that does not qualify as an institutional account under NASD Conduct Rule 3110(c)(4).  If you sell the securities to another dealer, you will do so pursuant to a master selected dealer agreement in which the dealer to whom you are selling the securities agrees to substantially comply with the suitability requirements contained herein.

 

19.          ERISA.  You agree that, in connection with any offering of Securities, you will not sell Securities to an account, pension, profit-sharing or other employee benefit plan (a “plan”) subject to ERISA or Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”), if the purchasing, holding or disposing would constitute a non-exempt prohibited transaction under ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code.

 

20.          Governing Law . This Agreement shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York.

 

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Very truly yours,

 

 

 

BARCLAYS BANK PLC

 

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Philippe El-Asmar

 

 

Name: Philippe El-Asmar

 

 

Title: Managing Director

 

Agreed: March 9, 2009

 

UBS FINANCIAL SERVICES INC.

 

 

By:

/s/ Eric Glicksman

 

By:

/s/ Jorge Ramirez

 

Name: Eric Glicksman

 

 

Name: Jorge Ramirez

 

Title: Managing Director

 

 

Title: Executive Director

 

 

 

(If person signing is not an officer or a managing director, please attach instrument of authorization)

 

(If person signing is not an officer or a managing director, please attach instrument of authorization)

 

 

Address:

 

Address:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Telephone:

 

Telephone:

 

 

 

Facsimile:

 

Facsimile:

 



 

SCHEDULE I

 

Form Opinion of Sullivan & Cromwell

 


Exhibit 1.3

 

MEDIUM TERM NOTES, SERIES A
AND OTHER SECURITIES OF BARCLAYS BANK PLC

 

Agency Agreement

 

November 20, 2006

 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

1.             General .  You, the undersigned, JPMorgan Securities Inc. (“you” or the “Agent”), understand that Barclays Bank PLC, a public limited company organized under the laws of England and Wales (“we”, “us” or the “Issuer”), is entering into this Agency Agreement (“Agreement”) in counterparts with you to act as placement agent in connection with offerings of securities of the Issuer.  Such offerings include, without limitation, offerings made pursuant to the Distribution Agreement, dated September 17, 2004 (the “Distribution Agreement”), between the Issuer and Barclays Capital Inc., as may be amended from time-to-time, relating to the Issuer’s Medium-Term Notes, Series A (the “Notes”).  The Notes will be issued pursuant to an Indenture dated as of September 16, 2004, between the Issuer and Bank of New York, as trustee (the “Trustee”) (as may be supplemented or amended from time to time, the “Indenture”).  The term “Manager” herein means Barclays Capital Inc. acting in such capacity as lead agent.  This agreement shall only cover transactions between the Issuer and you, acting through your “Private Bank” and “Private Client Services”.

 

At or prior to the time of an offering, the Manager will advise you, to the extent applicable, by wire, facsimile, electronic data transmission or other written communication (“Wire”) as to the expected offering date, the expected closing date, the initial public offering price, the interest or dividend rate (or the method by which such rate is to be determined), the conversion price, if applicable, the gross fee, the underwriting and management fee or placement fee, the selling concession, the reallowance, the time of release of securities for sale to the public, the time at which subscription books will be opened, the amount, if any, of securities reserved for purchase by your customers, the period of such reservation and the amount of securities to be allotted to your customers, and stating that the purchase in an offering of securities will become effective following our receipt of your acceptance on behalf of your customers.  Each offering will be conducted in accordance with the Administrative Procedures attached hereto as Schedule I or as may be otherwise agreed between you and the Issuer.  If you have not previously executed this Agreement, by the purchase by customers for which you have acted as Agent in an offering covered by this Agreement you shall be deemed to be a signatory hereof with respect to such offering.

 

The securities to be purchased in any offering of securities in which you agree to participate as an agent pursuant to this Agreement, including any guarantees relating to such securities or any other securities into which such securities are convertible or for which such securities are exercisable or exchangeable and any securities that may be purchased upon exercise of an over allotment option, are hereinafter referred to as the “Securities”.

 

Upon agreement by you and the Issuer with respect to an expected offering of Securities, you (and your affiliate) shall have the right to be the exclusive agent for such offering (such right is referred to herein as the “Exclusivity Right”, and an offering for which you exercise the Exclusivity Right is referred to herein as the “Exclusive Offering”).  If you exercise the Exclusivity Right, no other Agent or dealer (other than your affiliate) may participate in such offering for a period of 30

 

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calendar days from the date you exercised the Exclusivity Right; provided , however , that the Issuer may invite other agents, dealers or underwriters to participate in an Exclusive Offering with your prior consent.

 

The following provisions of this Agreement shall apply separately to each individual offering of Securities.

 

2.             Allotments .  The purchase of Securities by your customers will be made on the basis of a reservation of Securities and an allotment against subscriptions.  Any application for additional Securities will be subject to rejection in whole or in part.  Subscription books may be closed by us at any time in our discretion without notice and the right is reserved to reject any subscription in whole or in part.

 

You will make reasonable efforts to obtain performance by each purchaser of Securities for whom you are acting as agent, but you will not have any liability to the Issuer in the event any such purchase is not consummated for any reason.

 

3.             Offering Materials .  (a) You understand that registration of the offer and sale of the Securities is required under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”).  In connection with any offering of Securities, we or our affiliate shall make available to you, electronically or otherwise, such numbers of copies of the Time of Sale Information and of the Prospectus (in each case as defined below and other than information incorporated by reference therein) as you may reasonably request for the purposes of the 1933 Act and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “1934 Act”), and the applicable rules and regulations thereunder.  You represent and warrant that you are familiar with Rule 173 under the 1933 Act, as well as Rule 15c2-8 (or any successor provision) under the 1934 Act and agree that you will comply with the requirements of each Rule.

 

“Preliminary Prospectus” means any preliminary pricing supplement relating to an offering of Securities filed or to be filed under Rule 424 of the 1933 Act, together with the prospectus supplement (including any “product” supplements) and prospectus relating to the Securities.

 

“Prospectus” means the final pricing supplement relating to an offering of Securities filed or to be filed under Rule 424 of the 1933 Act, together with the prospectus supplement (including any “product” supplements) and prospectus relating to the Securities.

 

“Free writing prospectus” has the meaning set forth in Rule 405 under the 1933 Act and “Permitted Free Writing Prospectus” means (i) a free writing prospectus authorized for use by the Issuer in connection with an offering of Securities that has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission” or “SEC”) in accordance with Rule 433(d) of the 1933 Act; (ii) a free writing prospectus containing a description of terms of the Securities that (1) does not reflect the final terms and (2) is exempt from the filing requirement pursuant to Rule 433(d)(5)(i) under the 1933 Act; or (iii) a free writing prospectus that (1) does not contain substantive changes from or additions to a free writing prospectus previously filed with the Commission and (2) is exempt from the filing requirement pursuant to Rule 433(d)(3) under the 1933 Act.

 

“Time of Sale Information” means the Preliminary Prospectus together with each Permitted Free Writing Prospectus, if any, relating to an offering of Securities.

 

(b)           You agree that you will not use, authorize use of, refer to, or participate in the planning for use of any written communication (as defined in Rule 405 under the 1933 Act)

 

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concerning the Issuer or any offering of Securities (including without limitation any free writing prospectus and any information furnished by any issuer of the Securities but not incorporated by reference into the Preliminary Prospectus or Prospectus) other than: (i) any Preliminary Prospectus or Prospectus; (ii) any Permitted Free Writing Prospectus; (iii) a free writing prospectus that would not constitute an “issuer free writing prospectus” as such term is defined in Rule 433(h)(1) under the 1933 Act, including any free writing prospectus required to be filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 433(d)(1)(ii) under the 1933 Act; or (iv) any communications that comply with Rule 134 or Rule 135 under the 1933 Act, which communication is furnished to you by the Issuer or the Manager.

 

(c)           You represent and agree that any Time of Sale Information made available to you by the Issuer or the Manager in connection with an offering of Securities, if not publicly available on the SEC’s website, will be conveyed to each person to whom you sell or deliver Securities prior to entering into a contract of sale with such person, agree to make a record of your distribution of such Time of Sale Information, and agree, once furnished with copies of any revised Preliminary Prospectus or Permitted Free Writing Prospectus or a new Permitted Free Writing Prospectus revising or supplementing the terms of the Preliminary Prospectus or a previous Permitted Free Writing Prospectus, if not publicly available on the SEC’s website, to promptly forward copies thereof to each person to whom you have theretofore distributed a Preliminary Prospectus or Permitted Free Writing Prospectus prior to entering into any contract of sale with such person.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, you need not convey any Time of Sale Information to persons for whom you or your affiliates act on a discretionary or fiduciary basis.

 

4.             Offering of the Securities; Establishment of Agency; Solicitation of Agents .

 

(a)           Subject to the terms and conditions set forth herein and to the reservation by the Issuer of the right to (i) sell Notes directly on its own behalf at any time and to any person, (ii) cause Additional Agents (as defined below) to enter into similar agreements from time to time, (iii) sell Securities to any agent, acting as principal, for its own account or for resale to one or more investors or to another broker-dealer, acting as principal, for purpose of resale and (iv) accept offers to purchase Securities through other agents on substantially the same terms and conditions as would apply to you, we hereby appoint you our agent for the purpose of soliciting and receiving offers to purchase Securities on our behalf.

 

(b)           On the basis of the representations and warranties and subject to the terms and conditions set forth herein, you agree to use reasonable efforts when requested by the Issuer to solicit and receive offers to purchase Securities or place Securities upon the terms and conditions set forth in the Preliminary Prospectus or Time of Sale Information as then amended or supplemented.

 

(c)           The Issuer reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to suspend, at any time and for any period, the solicitation of offers to purchase Securities.  Upon receipt of any notice of such suspension from the Issuer, the Agent shall as soon as possible, but in no event later than one business day in New York City after receipt of such notice, suspend its solicitation of offers to purchase Securities until the Issuer shall have advised the Agent that such solicitation may be resumed.

 

(d)           You shall promptly communicate to the Issuer, orally or in writing, each offer to purchase Securities received by you, other than offers rejected by you pursuant to the next sentence.  You shall have the right, in your discretion reasonably exercised, to reject as unreasonable any offer to purchase Securities received by you and no such rejection shall be deemed a breach of your obligations hereunder.  We shall have the sole right to accept offers to purchase Securities and may, in our sole discretion, reject any offer in whole or in part.

 

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(e)           The offering of the Securities is made subject to the conditions referred to in the Prospectus and to the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement and any Wire.  After the public offering of the Securities has commenced, the Issuer may change the public offering price, the selling concession, the reallowance to dealers and the placement fee to brokers and agents.  To the extent that any of the foregoing changes affect you, we will notify you promptly.  Any of the Securities offered by you pursuant to this Agreement are to be offered, subject to their receipt and acceptance by the Manager to the public at the initial public offering price, subject to the terms of this Agreement and the Prospectus.

 

(f)            The Securities shall not be offered or sold by you to any dealer, other than your affiliates.

 

(g)           If required under applicable law, a single transfer tax upon the sale of the Securities by the Issuer to your customers will be paid by us when such Securities are delivered to your customers.  However, your customers shall be liable for and pay any other transfer tax, withholding or any other taxes they may incur or are otherwise payable in connection with a purchase, holding, disposition or redemption of the Securities.

 

(h)           Unless otherwise agreed between you and us, for each offering of Securities (i) the delivery of the Securities shall be made against payment for those Securities on the third business days after the “pricing” or “trade” date and (ii) the maturity date and final payment on the Securities shall be made on the third business day after the “final valuation date”, “final observation date” or “final averaging date” as such terms are defined in the applicable Prospectus.

 

(i)            Subsequent to the initial offering of the Securities, we agree that, absent a market disruption event as such term is defined in the applicable Prospectus, we will purchase any Securities in the open market from your customers at our published bid price for amounts up to $100,000 or, if intraday, at the price quoted by us to you for any aggregate amount you request.  In the event that we purchase any Note in the open market or otherwise and the price paid for such Note included an amount representing unamortized fees paid to you in connection with the sale of the Notes, you agree to repay to us the amount of such unamortized fee, net of the 1% spread (as set forth in Section 6(b)).  For the avoidance of doubt, the valuation and unwind methodology agreed to by the parties hereto is set forth in the Administrative Procedures attached hereto as Schedule I .

 

5.             Stabilization and Over Allotment .  One or more of our affiliates may, with respect to any offering of Securities, be authorized to over allot, to purchase and sell Securities for long or short account and to stabilize or maintain the market price of the Securities.  You agree that upon our request at any time and from time to time prior to the termination of the effectiveness of this Agreement with respect to an offering of Securities, you will report the amount of Securities purchased by your customers.

 

6.             Legal Responsibility .  (a) The Issuer, as such, shall have full authority to take such action as it deems advisable in all matters pertaining to the offering of the Securities or arising under this Agreement.  The Issuer shall have no liability to you for any act or omission except for obligations expressly assumed by the Issuer herein, and no obligations on the part of the Issuer will be implied hereby or inferred herefrom.

 

(b)           After each offering of Securities, the Issuer, through the Manager, shall use reasonable efforts to provide information, including publication of bid and mid-offer prices with a spread of no more than 1%, to assist you in obtaining timely pricing information concerning the Securities for which you act as agent.

 

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7.             Your Representations to Us .  Each and every time you act as agent in connection with the sale of any of the Securities to one of your customers, you represent and warrant as follows:

 

(a)           You have complied with all applicable federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations (or rules of any self-regulatory organization) relating to maintenance of information and the suitability of the Securities for purchase by that customer.

 

(b)           You will comply with all applicable provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, as amended by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (“ERISA”), and the rules and regulations of the Department of Labor.

 

(c)           You will comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations, including the provisions of the 1933 Act and the 1934 Act and the rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder, the rules and regulations of any securities exchange having jurisdiction over the offering and the laws, rules and regulations of any applicable regulatory body.

 

(d)           You further represent and agree that you have implemented and currently maintain (and shall maintain for so long as you are a party to this Agreement) an anti-money laundering (“AML”) program (including, without limitation, an effective customer identification program) that satisfies the requirements of (i) Section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act (Pub. L. 107-56) and the regulations promulgated thereunder and (ii) all other federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations aimed at detecting or preventing the funding of terrorism or money laundering activities.

 

(e)           In the event you receive notice that the Prospectus relating to an offering is being amended by the Issuer, you shall either await receipt of the amended Prospectus before providing the same to customers, or if a Prospectus has previously been provided to your customers, provide the amended Prospectus to your customers immediately upon receipt thereof from the Issuer (except for persons for whom you or your affiliates act on a discretionary or fiduciary basis).

 

(f)            The information contained in any Permitted Free Writing Prospectus prepared by you in connection with any offering of Securities, and not otherwise authorized by us, will be consistent in all material respects with our previous filings with the SEC, including but not limited to “issuer free writing prospectuses” as that term is defined in Rule 433(h)(1) under the 1933 Act and prospectuses filed pursuant to Rule 424 under the 1933 Act.

 

8.             Our Representations to You .  Each and every time we accept an offer from you to purchase Securities pursuant to this Agreement, we represent and warrant as follows:

 

(a)           The registration statement on Form F-3 (File No. 333-126811) (the “Registration Statement”), accompanying Prospectus and all documents incorporated by reference in the Prospectus have been declared effective by the SEC, and no stop order suspending the effectiveness of such Registration Statement has been issued and no proceeding for that purpose has been initiated or threatened by the SEC.

 

(b)           The Securities have been duly authorized and established in conformity with the Indenture and when issued and delivered, will constitute a legal, valid and binding obligation of the Issuer entitled to the benefits of the Indenture, subject to applicable bankruptcy, insolvency reorganization and similar laws of general applicability relating to creditors’ rights and equitable principles.

 

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(c)           On the date it most recently became effective, the Registration Statement and accompanying Prospectus conformed in all respects to the requirements of the 1933 Act, the Trust Indenture Act and the applicable rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder, and did not include any untrue statement of material fact or omit to state any material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading; provided , however , that this representation and warranty does not apply to any untrue statement or alleged untrue statement or omission made (i) in reliance upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Issuer or the Manager by you expressly for use therein or (ii) in the statement of eligibility of the Trustee under the Indenture.

 

(d)           If at any time when a Prospectus relating to the Securities is required to be delivered, the Issuer becomes aware of any event as a result of which the Prospectus, as then amended or supplemented, shall include any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state any material fact necessary to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, or it shall be necessary at any time to amend or supplement the Prospectus, the Issuer shall promptly notify you to suspend the solicitation of offers to purchase the Securities and prepare and file with the SEC an amendment or supplement that will correct such untrue statement or omission or effect such compliance.

 

(e) The Issuer shall advise you promptly of (i) any filing with the SEC of any amendments or supplements to the Registration Statement or the accompanying prospectus, together with the prospectus supplement (including any “product” supplements) relating to the Securities and (ii) any downgrade of the ratings of the Securities publicly announced by either Moody’s Investors Services, Inc. or Standard & Poor’s, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.  The Issuer shall advise you promptly of any stop order proceedings in respect of the Registration Statement and will use its reasonable efforts obtain withdrawal of any such stop order.

 

(f)            The Issuer agrees that it will not solicit or accept offers to purchase Securities from you during any period when the Issuer shall have been advised by either Moody’s Investors Services, Inc. or Standard & Poor’s, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., that such organization has determined to downgrade the rating of the Securities and such downgrade shall not yet have been publicly announced; provided that the Issuer shall not be obligated to inform you of the reason for, or describe the occurrence of any event that may have occasioned the need for, the suspension of its solicitation or acceptance of offers.

 

9.             Opinions and Comfort Letters .  Subject to the restrictions below and at the Issuer’s expense, the Issuer agrees that it shall provide you with the following as soon as is reasonably practicable following each filing by the Issuer with the Commission of the Issuer’s annual report on Form 20-F:

 

(a)           One opinion and one letter each dated on or around such filing with the Commission, of U.S. counsel to the Issuer in such counsel’s customary form to the effect that, (i) with respect to the opinion: (A) the Indenture has been duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Issuer and duly qualified under the Trust Indenture Act, (B) the Securities have been duly authorized and (C) the Indenture constitutes and the Securities, when issued and delivered, constitute valid and legally binding obligations of the Issuer enforceable in accordance with their terms, subject to bankruptcy, insolvency, fraudulent transfer, reorganization, moratorium and similar laws of general applicability relating to or affecting creditors’ rights and to general equity principles; and (ii) with respect to the letter, based upon such counsel’s review of the Registration Statement and accompanying prospectus, together with the prospectus supplement, relating to the Securities and other relevant due diligence: (A) each part of the Registration Statement, when such part become effective, appeared on its face to

 

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be appropriately responsive, in all material respects relevant to the offering of the Securities, to the requirements of the 1933 Act, the Trust Indenture Act and the applicable rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder, and (B) nothing that came to the attention of such counsel in the course of their review has caused them to believe that, insofar as relevant to the offering of such Securities, any part of the Registration Statement, when such part became effective, contained any untrue statement of a material fact or omitted to state any material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading or that the accompanying prospectus, together with the prospectus supplement, relating to the Securities, as of the date of the latest Prospectus, contained any untrue statement of a material fact or omitted to state any material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading.  Such letter may include customary qualifications, and such counsel need not express any opinion or belief as to the financial statements or other financial data derived from accounting records contained in the Registration Statement or such prospectus or as to the statement of eligibility of the Trustee under the Indenture.

 

(b)           One letter from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PWC”), dated on or around such filing with the Commission, in PWC’s customary form conforming to the requirements of Statement on Auditing Standards No. 72 (or any successor standard) and containing statements and information of the type ordinarily included in accountants’ “comfort letters” concerning the financial statements and certain financial information derived from accounting records of the Issuer contained in, or incorporated by reference into, the Registration Statement and the prospectus relating to the Securities and in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to you.

 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Issuer may postpone the delivery of the opinion and letters referred to above if, in the judgment of the Issuer, the existence of a pending corporate transaction, matter or other exceptional event that has not yet been publicly disclosed, makes it impracticable or non-prudent to deliver such documents at the appointed time.  In such event, the Issuer agrees to deliver such documents as soon as reasonably practicable after such corporate transaction, matter or other exceptional event has been publicly disclosed or abandoned.

 

You acknowledge and agree that, insofar as the letters and opinion referred to in subsections (a) and (b) of this Section, or any subsequently delivered documents in substantially the same form, are concerned, such letters and opinions may not be quoted, referred to or furnished to any purchaser or prospective purchaser of any Securities and may not be used in furtherance of the offer or sale of any Securities.

 

10.          Compliance with Regulation M .  Unless the Securities are “exempted securities” as defined in Section 3(a)(12) of the 1934 Act, you represent that, at all times since you were invited to participate in the offering of the Securities, you have complied with the provisions of Regulation M applicable to such offering, in each case as interpreted by the Commission and after giving effect to any applicable exemptions.  If you have been notified in a Wire that we may conduct passive market making in compliance with Rule 103 of Regulation M in connection with the offering of the Securities, you represent that, at all times since your receipt of such Wire, you have complied with the provisions of such Rule applicable to such offering, as interpreted by the Commission and after giving effect to any applicable exemptions.

 

11.          Net Capital .  You represent that the incurrence by you of your obligations hereunder in connection with the offering of the Securities will not place you in violation of Rule 15c3 1 under the 1934 Act, if such requirements are applicable to you, or, if you are a financial institution subject to regulation by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Comptroller of the

 

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Currency or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, will not place you in violation of the capital requirements of such regulator or any other regulator to which you are subject.

 

12.          Payment and Delivery .  (a) You agree that Securities purchased by you pursuant to this Agreement shall be paid for in an amount equal to the initial public offering price thereof.  The placement fees, based on market conditions and other factors in existence at the time of each sale, which shall be subject to negotiation between us and you and shall be disclosed in the Prospectus relating to each offering of Securities, will be payable monthly in arrears and may be waived by you in part.  Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, placement fees will be paid on the 5 th  business day of each month, for all placement fees earned by you in connection with the Securities with a pricing/trade date during the prior calendar month.  Payment shall be made in the manner and type of funds or currency specified in the Manager’s written payment instructions to you or your written payment instructions to the Manager.

 

(b)           If transactions in the Securities are to be settled through the facilities of The Depositary Trust Company (“DTC”) or any other depository or similar facility, if you are a member, the Manager is authorized, in its discretion, to make appropriate arrangements for payment in same day funds and/or delivery through DTC’s facilities of the Securities to be delivered to you for purchase by your customers, or, if you are not a member, settlement may be made through a correspondent that is a member pursuant to your timely instructions.

 

(c)           With respect to any issuance of Securities, in the event that (x) the delivery of such Securities by the Issuer is not made on the applicable settlement date and the payment for such Securities is made on such settlement date, interest, which shall be payable by the Issuer to you, shall accrue beginning on, and including, such settlement date at the prevailing Federal Funds (Open) Rate to, but excluding, the day that the delivery of such Securities is actually made, and (y) the Issuer’s payment is not made as specified on the applicable maturity date (as may be delayed by the terms of such Securities, including by a market disruption event), interest shall accrue on the amount payable by the Issuer beginning, and including, on such maturity date at the prevailing Federal Fund (Open) Rate to, but excluding, the day that the Issuer’s payment is actually made; provided , however , that any interest paid to you pursuant to this Section 12(c) shall be net of any interest paid directly to the holders of such Securities.  Any interest accrued pursuant to this paragraph shall be paid with the placement fees payable to you by the Issuer for that calendar month.

 

13.          Termination; Amendment .  (a) The terms and conditions set forth in (i) Section 4(e), and (ii) the second sentence of Section 5 (collectively, the “offering provisions”) will terminate with respect to each offering of Securities pursuant to this Agreement at the close of business on the 45th day after the date of the initial public offering of such Securities or at the close of business on the day of the closing of the purchase of the Securities by any underwriter pursuant to an underwriting agreement, whichever is later, unless in either such case the effectiveness of such offering provisions is extended by the Manager for a further period not exceeding 30 days or, in its discretion and whether or not extended, sooner terminated as hereinafter provided.  The Manager may terminate such offering provisions at any time by notice to you to the effect that the offering provisions of this Agreement are terminated.  All other provisions of the Agreement shall remain operative and in full force and effect with respect to such offering.

 

(b)           This Agreement may be terminated by either party hereto upon 30 business days’ written notice to the other party; provided , however , that with respect to any particular offering of Securities, if the Manager receives any such notice from you after the Manager has advised you of the amount of Securities allotted to you, this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect as to such

 

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offering and shall terminate with respect to such offering and all previous offerings only in accordance with and to the extent provided in subsection (a) of this Section.

 

14.          Indemnification .  The Issuer will indemnify and hold you harmless against any losses, claims, damages or liabilities (or actions in respect thereof), joint or several, to which you may become subject, under the 1933 Act or otherwise, and including reasonable legal expenses incurred by you in connection with investigating or defending any such action or claim as incurred, insofar as such losses, claims, damages or liabilities (or actions in respect thereof) arise out of or are based upon an untrue statement or alleged untrue statement of a material fact contained in the Registration Statement, the Preliminary Prospectus, the Prospectus, the Prospectus as amended or supplemented and any other free writing prospectus furnished by the Issuer or Manager relating to the Securities, or any amendment or supplement thereto, or arise out of or are based upon the omission or alleged omission to state therein a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading; provided , however , that neither the Issuer nor any affiliate thereof (including the Manager) shall be liable in any such case to the extent that any such loss, claim, damage or liability arises out of or is based upon an untrue statement or alleged untrue statement or omission or alleged omission made in the Registration Statement, the Preliminary Prospectus, the Prospectus, the Prospectus as amended or supplemented and any other free writing prospectus furnished by the Issuer or Manager relating to the Securities or any such amendment or supplement, in reliance upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Issuer or the Manager by you expressly for use therein.

 

To the extent the indemnification provided for in this Section is unavailable or insufficient in respect of any losses, claims, damages or liabilities referred to herein, then Barclays Bank PLC shall, in lieu of indemnifying you herein, contribute to the amount paid or payable by you as a result of such losses, claims, damages or liabilities (i) in such proportion as is appropriate to reflect the relative benefits received by the Issuer and its affiliates (including the Manager) on the one hand and you on the other hand from the offering of Securities or (ii) if the allocation provided by clause (i) above is not permitted by applicable law, in such proportion as is appropriate to reflect not only the relative benefits referred to in clause (i) above but also the relative fault of the Issuer and its affiliates on the one hand and you on the other hand in connection with the misstatements or omissions that resulted in such losses, claims, damages or liabilities.  The relative benefits received by the Issuer and its affiliates (including the Manager) on the one hand and you on the other shall be deemed to be in the same proportion as the total net proceeds from the sale of Securities received by the Issuer bear to the total fees (including placement fees) or discounts received by you in respect thereof.

 

15.          Agent; Notices .  We hereby appoint the Manager as our agent for purposes of delivering and receiving any notices, including any Wire, contemplated or permitted under this Agreement, and any notice delivered by or to the Manager shall be deemed for all purposes to have been delivered by or to the Issuer.  Any notices from the Manager to you shall be deemed to have been duly given if sent by facsimile transmission, personal delivery or registered mail to the address or facsimile number set forth at the foot of this Agreement, or at such other address or facsimile number as you shall have advised the Manager in writing.  Any notice from you to the Manager shall be sent by facsimile transmission, personal delivery or registered mail to:

 

Barclays Capital Inc.
200 Park Avenue
New York, New York 10166
Attn:       General Counsel

Telephone:            212-412-4000

Telecopy:              212-412-6830

 

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with a copy to:

 

Barclays Bank PLC
200 Park Avenue
New York, New York 10166
Attn:       General Counsel

 

Telephone:            212-412-4000
Telecopy:              212-412-1825

 

(or to such other address or facsimile number as you shall be notified by the Manager).

 

16.          NASD Matters .  You represent and agree that you are now and shall remain for so long as you are a party to this Agreement, a member in good standing of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (“NASD”).  You agree that in making sales of Securities you will comply with all applicable rules of the NASD, including Conduct Rules 2420, 2730, 2740, 2750 and 2790.

 

17.          Suitability Requirements .  You agree that, in connection with any offering of Securities, you will comply with NASD Conduct Rule 2310, Rule 405 of the New York Stock Exchange, if applicable, and all other federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations (or rules of any self-regulatory organization) relating to the suitability of the Securities for purchase by any person to whom you sell or recommend Securities.  In complying with NASD Conduct Rule 2310, prior to recommending the purchase of any Securities, you shall have reasonable grounds for believing that the recommendation is suitable for the person to whom it is made upon the basis of facts disclosed to you by such person as to his or her other security holdings and as to his or her financial situation and needs.  Prior to executing the purchase of Securities recommended to any non-institutional customer, you shall obtain information regarding: (1) the customer’s financial status; (2) the customer’s tax status; (3) the customer’s investment objective; and, (4) any additional information used or considered to be reasonable by you in making such recommendations to the customer. You further agree that you are familiar with NASD Notice-to-Members 05-59 concerning NASD members’ obligations when selling structured products and you agree to comply materially with the recommendations therein.  “Non-institutional customer” is defined as a customer that does not qualify as an institutional account under NASD Conduct Rule 3110(c)(4).  If you sell the securities to another dealer, you will do so pursuant to a master selected dealer agreement in which the dealer to whom you are selling the securities agrees to substantially comply with the suitability requirements contained herein.

 

18.          ERISA.  You agree that, in connection with any offering of Securities, you will only sell Securities to an account, pension, profit-sharing or other employee benefit plan (a “plan”) subject to ERISA or Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”), if the plan is purchasing, holding and disposing of the Securities pursuant to the “service provider” exemption (Section 408(b)(17) of ERISA and Section 4975(d)(20) of the Code).  Each and every time you act as agent in connection with the sale of any of the Securities to a plan (excluding any individual retirement accounts or “IRAs”), you represent and warrant that such plan has acknowledged to you that Barclays Bank PLC and its affiliates are not fiduciaries of the plan in connection with such offering and sale of Securities.  Additionally you agree to take all actions necessary, including obtaining representations from such plan (excluding any IRAs), to confirm the foregoing.

 

10



 

19.          Governing Law . This Agreement shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York.

 

11



 

 

 

Very truly yours,

 

 

 

 

 

BARCLAYS BANK PLC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Philippe El-Asmar

 

 

 

Name: Philippe El-Asmar

 

 

 

Title: Managing Director

 

 

 

Agreed: November 20, 2006

 

 

 

 

 

JPMORGAN SECURITIES INC.,

 

 

ACTING THROUGH ITS “PRIVATE BANK”

 

 

AND “PRIVATE CLIENT SERVICES”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Kevin R. Alger

 

 

 

Name: Kevin R. Alger

 

 

 

Title: Managing Director

 

 

 

 

 

  (If person signing is not an officer or a managing director, please attach instrument of authorization)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Address:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Telephone:

 

 

 

 

 

Facsimile:

 

 

 



 

Schedule I

 

ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES

 

I-1



 

Appendix A—Primary Contact Details

 

I-2



 

Appendix B—Consolidated Form

 

I-3



 

Appendix C—Sample Daily Pricing Spreadsheet

 

I-4



 

Appendix D—Standard Settlement Instructions

 

I-5


Exhibit 1.4

 

MEDIUM TERM NOTES, SERIES A
AND OTHER SECURITIES OF BARCLAYS BANK PLC

 

Amendment to Agency Agreement

 

December 17, 2007

 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

1.             General .  You, the undersigned, JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association (“you” or the “Agent”), and Barclays Bank PLC, a public limited company organized under the laws of England and Wales (“we”, “us” or the “Issuer”), have previously entered into that certain Agency Agreement dated November 20, 2006 (the “Agency Agreement”).

 

2.             Amendment .  Upon the execution of this Amendment to Agency Agreement by both parties, (i) Section 1 of the Agency Agreement shall be and hereby is amended by inserting the following text in the second last sentence of the second paragraph after the words “ Schedule I ”:  “, in the case of equity-linked Notes, and Schedule II , in the case of FX-linked and commodities-linked Notes,”, (ii) Section 4(i) of the Agency Agreement shall be and hereby is amended by inserting the following text at the end thereof before the period:  “, in the case of equity-linked Notes, and Schedule II , in the case of FX-linked and commodities-linked Notes”, (iii) Section 8(a) of the Agency Agreement shall be and hereby is amended by deleting “(File No. 333-126811)” therefrom and replacing it with “(File No. 333-145845)” and (iv) the Administrative Procedures attached hereto as Exhibit A shall be and hereby are appended to the Agency Agreement as Schedule II thereto.  As used in the Agency Agreement, as amended by this Amendment to Agency Agreement, the terms “Agreement”, “this Agreement”, “herein”, “hereinafter”, “hereof”, “hereto” and other words of similar import shall mean the Agency Agreement as amended hereby.

 

3.             Counterparts .  This Amendment to Agency Agreement may be executed and delivered in counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original.

 

4.             Governing Law .  This Amendment to Agency Agreement shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York.

 

[SIGNATURE PAGE FOLLOWS]

 



 

 

 

Very truly yours,

 

 

 

 

 

BARCLAYS BANK PLC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Philippe El-Asmar

 

 

 

Name: Philippe El-Asmar

 

 

 

Title: Managing Director

 

 

 

Agreed: December 17, 2007

 

 

 

 

 

JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION,

 

 

ACTING THROUGH ITS “PRIVATE BANK”

 

 

AND “PRIVATE CLIENT SERVICES”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Rebecca H. Patterson

 

 

 

Name: Rebecca H. Patterson

 

 

 

Title: Global Head, Foreign Exchange, JP Morgan Private Bank

 

 

 



 

Exhibit A

 

Administrative Procedures

 


Exhibit 1.5

 

GLOBAL MEDIUM TERM NOTES, SERIES A
AND OTHER SECURITIES OF BARCLAYS BANK PLC

 

Accession Agreement

 

June 23, 2011

 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

1.             General .  The undersigned party, JPMorgan Securities Inc. (“you”), and Barclays Bank PLC, a public limited company organized under the laws of England and Wales (“we”, “us” or the “Issuer”), have previously entered into that certain Agency Agreement dated November 20, 2006 (as amended from time to time, the “Agency Agreement”).  Your affiliate, Chase Investment Services Corp., a Delaware corporation (“CISC”), desires to become a party to the Agency Agreement in the capacity of Agent, and we desire to admit CISC as an Agent under the Agency Agreement in connection with such offerings of securities of the Issuer as may be agreed from time to time between CISC and us.

 

2.             Agreement .  Upon the execution of this Accession Agreement, you and CISC acknowledge, agree and confirm that CISC will be deemed to be a party to the Agency Agreement and, from and after the date hereof, shall have all of the rights and obligations of an Agent thereunder as if it had executed the Agency Agreement.  CISC hereby ratifies, as of the date hereof, and accedes to and agrees to be bound by, all of the terms, provisions and conditions of the Agency Agreement in its capacity as Agent with respect to such offerings of securities in which CISC acts as placement agent.  Any reference in the Agency Agreement to “you” or to the “Agent” shall be deemed to refer to CISC in connection with such offerings of securities, and any reference in the Agency Agreement to a “party” to the Agency Agreement shall be deemed to refer to CISC, you or us.

 

3.             Counterparts .  This Accession Agreement may be executed and delivered in counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original.

 

4.             Governing Law .  This Accession Agreement shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York.

 

[SIGNATURE PAGE FOLLOWS]

 



 

 

 

Very truly yours,

 

 

 

 

 

BARCLAYS BANK PLC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Sean Gordon

 

 

 

Name: Sean Gordon

 

 

 

Title: Managing Director

 

 

 

Agreed: June 23, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

JPMORGAN SECURITIES INC.,

 

 

ACTING THROUGH ITS “PRIVATE BANK”

 

 

AND “PRIVATE CLIENT SERVICES”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Robert Ferrari

 

 

 

Name: Robert Ferrari

 

 

 

Title: VP – US Equities

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHASE INVESTMENT SERVICES CORP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Alan Chabot

 

 

 

Name: Alan Chabot

 

 

 

Title: President & CEO, Chase Investment Services Corp.

 

 

 


Exhibit 1.6

 

MEDIUM TERM NOTES, SERIES A
AND OTHER SECURITIES OF BARCLAYS BANK PLC

 

Agency Agreement

 

November 20, 2006

 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

1.             General .  You, the undersigned, JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association (“you” or the “Agent”), understand that Barclays Bank PLC, a public limited company organized under the laws of England and Wales (“we”, “us” or the “Issuer”), is entering into this Agency Agreement (“Agreement”) in counterparts with you to act as placement agent in connection with offerings of securities of the Issuer.  The Issuer’s Medium-Term Notes, Series A (the “Notes”) will be issued pursuant to an Indenture dated as of September 16, 2004, between the Issuer and Bank of New York, as trustee (the “Trustee”) (as may be supplemented or amended from time to time, the “Indenture”).  This agreement shall only cover transactions between the Issuer and you, acting through your “Private Bank” and “Private Client Services”.

 

At or prior to the time of an offering, the Issuer will advise you, to the extent applicable, by wire, facsimile, electronic data transmission or other written communication (“Wire”) as to the expected offering date, the expected closing date, the initial public offering price, the interest or dividend rate (or the method by which such rate is to be determined), the conversion price, if applicable, the gross fee, the underwriting and management fee or placement fee, the selling concession, the reallowance, the time of release of securities for sale to the public, the time at which subscription books will be opened, the amount, if any, of securities reserved for purchase by your customers, the period of such reservation and the amount of securities to be allotted to your customers, and stating that the purchase in an offering of securities will become effective following our receipt of your acceptance on behalf of your customers.  Each offering will be conducted in accordance with the Administrative Procedures attached hereto as Schedule I or as may be otherwise agreed between you and the Issuer.  If you have not previously executed this Agreement, by the purchase by customers for which you have acted as Agent in an offering covered by this Agreement you shall be deemed to be a signatory hereof with respect to such offering.

 

The securities to be purchased in any offering of securities in which you agree to participate as an agent pursuant to this Agreement, including any guarantees relating to such securities or any other securities into which such securities are convertible or for which such securities are exercisable or exchangeable and any securities that may be purchased upon exercise of an over allotment option, are hereinafter referred to as the “Securities”.

 

Upon agreement by you and the Issuer with respect to an expected offering of Securities, you (and your affiliate) shall have the right to be the exclusive agent for such offering (such right is referred to herein as the “Exclusivity Right”, and an offering for which you exercise the Exclusivity Right is referred to herein as the “Exclusive Offering”).  If you exercise the Exclusivity Right, no other Agent or dealer (other than your affiliate) may participate in such offering for a period of 30 calendar days from the date you exercised the Exclusivity Right; provided , however , that the Issuer may invite other agents, dealers or underwriters to participate in an Exclusive Offering with your prior consent.

 

1



 

The following provisions of this Agreement shall apply separately to each individual offering of Securities.

 

2.             Allotments .  The purchase of Securities by your customers will be made on the basis of a reservation of Securities and an allotment against subscriptions.  Any application for additional Securities will be subject to rejection in whole or in part.  Subscription books may be closed by us at any time in our discretion without notice and the right is reserved to reject any subscription in whole or in part.

 

You will make reasonable efforts to obtain performance by each purchaser of Securities for whom you are acting as agent, but you will not have any liability to the Issuer in the event any such purchase is not consummated for any reason.

 

3.             Offering Materials .  (a) You understand that registration of the offer and sale of the Securities is required under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”).  In connection with any offering of Securities, we or our affiliate shall make available to you, electronically or otherwise, such numbers of copies of the Time of Sale Information and of the Prospectus (in each case as defined below and other than information incorporated by reference therein) as you may reasonably request for the purposes of the 1933 Act and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “1934 Act”), and the applicable rules and regulations thereunder.  You represent and warrant that you are familiar with Rule 173 under the 1933 Act, as well as Rule 15c2-8 (or any successor provision) under the 1934 Act and agree that you will comply with the requirements of each Rule.

 

“Preliminary Prospectus” means any preliminary pricing supplement relating to an offering of Securities filed or to be filed under Rule 424 of the 1933 Act, together with the prospectus supplement (including any “product” supplements) and prospectus relating to the Securities.

 

“Prospectus” means the final pricing supplement relating to an offering of Securities filed or to be filed under Rule 424 of the 1933 Act, together with the prospectus supplement (including any “product” supplements) and prospectus relating to the Securities.

 

“Free writing prospectus” has the meaning set forth in Rule 405 under the 1933 Act and “Permitted Free Writing Prospectus” means (i) a free writing prospectus authorized for use by the Issuer in connection with an offering of Securities that has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission” or “SEC”) in accordance with Rule 433(d) of the 1933 Act; (ii) a free writing prospectus containing a description of terms of the Securities that (1) does not reflect the final terms and (2) is exempt from the filing requirement pursuant to Rule 433(d)(5)(i) under the 1933 Act; or (iii) a free writing prospectus that (1) does not contain substantive changes from or additions to a free writing prospectus previously filed with the Commission and (2) is exempt from the filing requirement pursuant to Rule 433(d)(3) under the 1933 Act.

 

“Time of Sale Information” means the Preliminary Prospectus together with each Permitted Free Writing Prospectus, if any, relating to an offering of Securities.

 

(b)           You agree that you will not use, authorize use of, refer to, or participate in the planning for use of any written communication (as defined in Rule 405 under the 1933 Act) concerning the Issuer or any offering of Securities (including without limitation any free writing prospectus and any information furnished by any issuer of the Securities but not incorporated by reference into the Preliminary Prospectus or Prospectus) other than: (i) any Preliminary Prospectus or Prospectus; (ii) any Permitted Free Writing Prospectus; (iii) a free writing prospectus that would not

 

2



 

constitute an “issuer free writing prospectus” as such term is defined in Rule 433(h)(1) under the 1933 Act, including any free writing prospectus required to be filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 433(d)(1)(ii) under the 1933 Act; or (iv) any communications that comply with Rule 134 or Rule 135 under the 1933 Act, which communication is furnished to you by the Issuer.

 

(c)           You represent and agree that any Time of Sale Information made available to you by the Issuer in connection with an offering of Securities, if not publicly available on the SEC’s website, will be conveyed to each person to whom you sell or deliver Securities prior to entering into a contract of sale with such person, agree to make a record of your distribution of such Time of Sale Information, and agree, once furnished with copies of any revised Preliminary Prospectus or Permitted Free Writing Prospectus or a new Permitted Free Writing Prospectus revising or supplementing the terms of the Preliminary Prospectus or a previous Permitted Free Writing Prospectus, if not publicly available on the SEC’s website, to promptly forward copies thereof to each person to whom you have theretofore distributed a Preliminary Prospectus or Permitted Free Writing Prospectus prior to entering into any contract of sale with such person.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, you need not convey any Time of Sale Information to persons for whom you or your affiliates act on a discretionary or fiduciary basis.

 

4.             Offering of the Securities; Establishment of Agency; Solicitation of Agents .

 

(a)           Subject to the terms and conditions set forth herein and to the reservation by the Issuer of the right to (i) sell Notes directly on its own behalf at any time and to any person, (ii) cause Additional Agents (as defined below) to enter into similar agreements from time to time, (iii) sell Securities to any agent, acting as principal, for its own account or for resale to one or more investors or to another broker-dealer, acting as principal, for purpose of resale and (iv) accept offers to purchase Securities through other agents on substantially the same terms and conditions as would apply to you, we hereby appoint you our agent for the purpose of soliciting and receiving offers to purchase Securities on our behalf.

 

(b)           On the basis of the representations and warranties and subject to the terms and conditions set forth herein, you agree to use reasonable efforts when requested by the Issuer to solicit and receive offers to purchase Securities or place Securities upon the terms and conditions set forth in the Preliminary Prospectus or Time of Sale Information as then amended or supplemented.

 

(c)           The Issuer reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to suspend, at any time and for any period, the solicitation of offers to purchase Securities.  Upon receipt of any notice of such suspension from the Issuer, the Agent shall as soon as possible, but in no event later than one business day in New York City after receipt of such notice, suspend its solicitation of offers to purchase Securities until the Issuer shall have advised the Agent that such solicitation may be resumed.

 

(d)           You shall promptly communicate to the Issuer, orally or in writing, each offer to purchase Securities received by you, other than offers rejected by you pursuant to the next sentence.  You shall have the right, in your discretion reasonably exercised, to reject as unreasonable any offer to purchase Securities received by you and no such rejection shall be deemed a breach of your obligations hereunder.  We shall have the sole right to accept offers to purchase Securities and may, in our sole discretion, reject any offer in whole or in part.

 

(e)           The offering of the Securities is made subject to the conditions referred to in the Prospectus and to the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement and any Wire.  After the public offering of the Securities has commenced, the Issuer may change the public offering price, the selling concession, the reallowance to dealers and the placement fee to brokers and agents.  To the extent that

 

3



 

any of the foregoing changes affect you, we will notify you promptly.  Any of the Securities offered by you pursuant to this Agreement are to be offered, subject to their receipt and acceptance by the Issuer to the public at the initial public offering price, subject to the terms of this Agreement and the Prospectus.

 

(f)            The Securities shall not be offered or sold by you to any dealer, other than your affiliates.

 

(g)           If required under applicable law, a single transfer tax upon the sale of the Securities by the Issuer to your customers will be paid by us when such Securities are delivered to your customers.  However, your customers shall be liable for and pay any other transfer tax, withholding or any other taxes they may incur or are otherwise payable in connection with a purchase, holding, disposition or redemption of the Securities.

 

(h)           Unless otherwise agreed between you and us, for each offering of Securities (i) the delivery of the Securities shall be made against payment for those Securities on the third business days after the “pricing” or “trade” date and (ii) the maturity date and final payment on the Securities shall be made on the third business day after the “final valuation date”, “final observation date” or “final averaging date” as such terms are defined in the applicable Prospectus.

 

(i)            Subsequent to the initial offering of the Securities, we agree that, absent a market disruption event as such term is defined in the applicable Prospectus, we will purchase any Securities in the open market from your customers at our published bid price for amounts up to $100,000 or, if intraday, at the price quoted by us to you for any aggregate amount you request.  In the event that we purchase any Note in the open market or otherwise and the price paid for such Note included an amount representing unamortized fees paid to you in connection with the sale of the Notes, you agree to repay to us the amount of such unamortized fee, net of the 1% spread (as set forth in Section 6(b)).  For the avoidance of doubt, the valuation and unwind methodology agreed to by the parties hereto is set forth in the Administrative Procedures attached hereto as Schedule I .

 

5.             Stabilization and Over Allotment .  One or more of our affiliates may, with respect to any offering of Securities, be authorized to over allot, to purchase and sell Securities for long or short account and to stabilize or maintain the market price of the Securities.  You agree that upon our request at any time and from time to time prior to the termination of the effectiveness of this Agreement with respect to an offering of Securities, you will report the amount of Securities purchased by your customers.

 

6.             Legal Responsibility .  (a) The Issuer, as such, shall have full authority to take such action as it deems advisable in all matters pertaining to the offering of the Securities or arising under this Agreement.  The Issuer shall have no liability to you for any act or omission except for obligations expressly assumed by the Issuer herein, and no obligations on the part of the Issuer will be implied hereby or inferred herefrom.

 

(b)           After each offering of Securities, the Issuer shall use reasonable efforts to provide information, including publication of bid and mid-offer prices with a spread of no more than 1%, to assist you in obtaining timely pricing information concerning the Securities for which you act as agent.

 

7.             Your Representations to Us .  Each and every time you act as agent in connection with the sale of any of the Securities to one of your customers, you represent and warrant as follows:

 

4



 

(a)           In the case of accounts for which you act on a discretionary or fiduciary basis, you have been given full and absolute investment discretion or authority to purchase the Securities on behalf of such accounts or are acting for advised accounts for which the investor has made the investment decision.

 

(b)           You have complied with all applicable federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations (or rules of any self-regulatory organization) relating to maintenance of information and the suitability of the Securities for purchase by that customer.

 

(c)           You will comply with all applicable provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, as amended by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (“ERISA”), and the rules and regulations of the Department of Labor.

 

(d)           You will comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations, including the provisions of the 1933 Act and the 1934 Act and the rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder, the rules and regulations of any securities exchange having jurisdiction over the offering and the laws, rules and regulations of any applicable regulatory body.

 

(e)           You are a National Banking Association regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency exempt from registration as a broker-dealer under the 1934 Act.  You represent and agree that you are now, and shall remain for so long as you are a party of this Agreement, regulated by a federal functional regulator (as such term is defined in 31 C.F.R. § 103.120(a)).  You further represent and agree that you have implemented and currently maintain (and shall maintain for so long as you are a party to this Agreement) an anti-money laundering (“AML”) program (including, without limitation, an effective customer identification program) that satisfies the requirements of (i) Section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act (Pub. L. 107-56) and the regulations promulgated thereunder and (ii) all other federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations aimed at detecting or preventing the funding of terrorism or money laundering activities.

 

(f)            In the event you receive notice that the Prospectus relating to an offering is being amended by the Issuer, you shall either await receipt of the amended Prospectus before providing the same to customers, or if a Prospectus has previously been provided to your customers, provide the amended Prospectus to your customers immediately upon receipt thereof from the Issuer (except for persons for whom you or your affiliates act on a discretionary or fiduciary basis).

 

(g)           The information contained in any Permitted Free Writing Prospectus prepared by you in connection with any offering of Securities, and not otherwise authorized by us, will be consistent in all material respects with our previous filings with the SEC, including but not limited to “issuer free writing prospectuses” as that term is defined in Rule 433(h)(1) under the 1933 Act and prospectuses filed pursuant to Rule 424 under the 1933 Act.

 

8.             Our Representations to You .  Each and every time we accept an offer from you to purchase Securities pursuant to this Agreement, we represent and warrant as follows:

 

(a)           The registration statement on Form F-3 (File No. 333-126811) (the “Registration Statement”), accompanying Prospectus and all documents incorporated by reference in the Prospectus have been declared effective by the SEC, and no stop order suspending the effectiveness of such Registration Statement has been issued and no proceeding for that purpose has been initiated or threatened by the SEC.

 

5



 

(b)           The Securities have been duly authorized and established in conformity with the Indenture and when issued and delivered, will constitute a legal, valid and binding obligation of the Issuer entitled to the benefits of the Indenture, subject to applicable bankruptcy, insolvency reorganization and similar laws of general applicability relating to creditors’ rights and equitable principles.

 

(c)           On the date it most recently became effective, the Registration Statement and accompanying Prospectus conformed in all respects to the requirements of the 1933 Act, the Trust Indenture Act and the applicable rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder, and did not include any untrue statement of material fact or omit to state any material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading; provided , however , that this representation and warranty does not apply to any untrue statement or alleged untrue statement or omission made (i) in reliance upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Issuer by you expressly for use therein or (ii) in the statement of eligibility of the Trustee under the Indenture.

 

(d)           If at any time when a Prospectus relating to the Securities is required to be delivered, the Issuer becomes aware of any event as a result of which the Prospectus, as then amended or supplemented, shall include any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state any material fact necessary to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, or it shall be necessary at any time to amend or supplement the Prospectus, the Issuer shall promptly notify you to suspend the solicitation of offers to purchase the Securities and prepare and file with the SEC an amendment or supplement that will correct such untrue statement or omission or effect such compliance.

 

(e)           The Issuer shall advise you promptly of (i) any filing with the SEC of any amendments or supplements to the Registration Statement or the accompanying prospectus, together with the prospectus supplement (including any “product” supplements) relating to the Securities and (ii) any downgrade of the ratings of the Securities publicly announced by either Moody’s Investors Services, Inc. or Standard & Poor’s, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.  The Issuer shall advise you promptly of any stop order proceedings in respect of the Registration Statement and will use its reasonable efforts obtain withdrawal of any such stop order.

 

(f)            The Issuer agrees that it will not solicit or accept offers to purchase Securities from you during any period when the Issuer shall have been advised by either Moody’s Investors Services, Inc. or Standard & Poor’s, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., that such organization has determined to downgrade the rating of the Securities and such downgrade shall not yet have been publicly announced; provided that the Issuer shall not be obligated to inform you of the reason for, or describe the occurrence of any event that may have occasioned the need for, the suspension of its solicitation or acceptance of offers.

 

9.             Opinions and Comfort Letters .  Subject to the restrictions below and at the Issuer’s expense, the Issuer agrees that it shall provide you with the following as soon as is reasonably practicable following each filing by the Issuer with the Commission of the Issuer’s annual report on Form 20 F:

 

(a)           One opinion and one letter each dated on or around such filing with the Commission, of U.S. counsel to the Issuer in such counsel’s customary form to the effect that, (i) with respect to the opinion: (A) the Indenture has been duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Issuer and duly qualified under the Trust Indenture Act, (B) the Securities have been duly authorized and (C) the Indenture constitutes and the Securities, when issued and delivered, constitute valid and legally

 

6



 

binding obligations of the Issuer enforceable in accordance with their terms, subject to bankruptcy, insolvency, fraudulent transfer, reorganization, moratorium and similar laws of general applicability relating to or affecting creditors’ rights and to general equity principles; and (ii) with respect to the letter, based upon such counsel’s review of the Registration Statement and accompanying prospectus, together with the prospectus supplement, relating to the Securities and other relevant due diligence: (A) each part of the Registration Statement, when such part become effective, appeared on its face to be appropriately responsive, in all material respects relevant to the offering of the Securities, to the requirements of the 1933 Act, the Trust Indenture Act and the applicable rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder, and (B) nothing that came to the attention of such counsel in the course of their review has caused them to believe that, insofar as relevant to the offering of such Securities, any part of the Registration Statement, when such part became effective, contained any untrue statement of a material fact or omitted to state any material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading or that the accompanying prospectus, together with the prospectus supplement, relating to the Securities, as of the date of the latest Prospectus, contained any untrue statement of a material fact or omitted to state any material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading.  Such letter may include customary qualifications, and such counsel need not express any opinion or belief as to the financial statements or other financial data derived from accounting records contained in the Registration Statement or such prospectus or as to the statement of eligibility of the Trustee under the Indenture.

 

(b)           One letter from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PWC”), dated on or around such filing with the Commission, in PWC’s customary form conforming to the requirements of Statement on Auditing Standards No. 72 (or any successor standard) and containing statements and information of the type ordinarily included in accountants’ “comfort letters” concerning the financial statements and certain financial information derived from accounting records of the Issuer contained in, or incorporated by reference into, the Registration Statement and the prospectus relating to the Securities and in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to you.

 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Issuer may postpone the delivery of the opinion and letters referred to above if, in the judgment of the Issuer, the existence of a pending corporate transaction, matter or other exceptional event that has not yet been publicly disclosed, makes it impracticable or non-prudent to deliver such documents at the appointed time.  In such event, the Issuer agrees to deliver such documents as soon as reasonably practicable after such corporate transaction, matter or other exceptional event has been publicly disclosed or abandoned.

 

You acknowledge and agree that, insofar as the letters and opinion referred to in subsections (a) and (b) of this Section, or any subsequently delivered documents in substantially the same form, are concerned, such letters and opinions may not be quoted, referred to or furnished to any purchaser or prospective purchaser of any Securities and may not be used in furtherance of the offer or sale of any Securities.

 

10.          Compliance with Regulation M .  Unless the Securities are “exempted securities” as defined in Section 3(a)(12) of the 1934 Act, you represent that, at all times since you were invited to participate in the offering of the Securities, you have complied with the provisions of Regulation M applicable to such offering, in each case as interpreted by the Commission and after giving effect to any applicable exemptions.  If you have been notified in a Wire that we may conduct passive market making in compliance with Rule 103 of Regulation M in connection with the offering of the Securities, you represent that, at all times since your receipt of such Wire, you have complied with the provisions of such Rule applicable to such offering, as interpreted by the Commission and after giving effect to any applicable exemptions.

 

7



 

11.          Net Capital .  You represent that the incurrence by you of your obligations hereunder in connection with the offering of the Securities will not place you in violation of Rule 15c3 1 under the 1934 Act, if such requirements are applicable to you, or, if you are a financial institution subject to regulation by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Comptroller of the Currency or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, will not place you in violation of the capital requirements of such regulator or any other regulator to which you are subject.

 

12.          Payment and Delivery .  (a) You agree that Securities purchased by you pursuant to this Agreement shall be paid for in an amount equal to the initial public offering price thereof.  The placement fees, based on market conditions and other factors in existence at the time of each sale, which shall be subject to negotiation between us and you and shall be disclosed in the Prospectus relating to each offering of Securities, will be payable monthly in arrears and may be waived by you in part.  Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, placement fees will be paid on the 5 th  business day of each month, for all placement fees earned by you in connection with the Securities with a pricing/trade date during the prior calendar month.  Payment shall be made in the manner and type of funds or currency specified in the Issuer’s written payment instructions to you or your written payment instructions to the Issuer.

 

(b)           If transactions in the Securities are to be settled through the facilities of The Depositary Trust Company (“DTC”) or any other depository or similar facility, if you are a member, the Issuer will make appropriate arrangements for payment in same day funds and/or delivery through DTC’s facilities of the Securities to be delivered to you for purchase by your customers, or, if you are not a member, settlement may be made through a correspondent that is a member pursuant to your timely instructions.

 

(c)           With respect to any issuance of Securities, in the event that (x) the delivery of such Securities by the Issuer is not made on the applicable settlement date and the payment for such Securities is made on such settlement date, interest, which shall be payable by the Issuer to you, shall accrue beginning on, and including, such settlement date at the prevailing Federal Funds (Open) Rate to, but excluding, the day that the delivery of such Securities is actually made, and (y) the Issuer’s payment is not made as specified on the applicable maturity date (as may be delayed by the terms of such Securities, including by a market disruption event), interest shall accrue on the amount payable by the Issuer beginning, and including, on such maturity date at the prevailing Federal Fund (Open) Rate to, but excluding, the day that the Issuer’s payment is actually made; provided , however , that any interest paid to you pursuant to this Section 12(c) shall be net of any interest paid directly to the holders of such Securities.  Any interest accrued pursuant to this paragraph shall be paid with the placement fees payable to you by the Issuer for that calendar month.

 

13.          Termination; Amendment .  (a) The terms and conditions set forth in (i) Section 4(e), and (ii) the second sentence of Section 5 (collectively, the “offering provisions”) will terminate with respect to each offering of Securities pursuant to this Agreement at the close of business on the 45th day after the date of the initial public offering of such Securities or at the close of business on the day of the closing of the purchase of the Securities by any underwriter pursuant to an underwriting agreement, whichever is later, unless in either such case the effectiveness of such offering provisions is extended by the Issuer for a further period not exceeding 30 days or, in its discretion and whether or not extended, sooner terminated as hereinafter provided.  The Issuer may terminate such offering provisions at any time by notice to you to the effect that the offering provisions of this Agreement are terminated.  All other provisions of the Agreement shall remain operative and in full force and effect with respect to such offering.

 

8



 

(b)           This Agreement may be terminated by either party hereto upon 30 business days’ written notice to the other party; provided , however , that with respect to any particular offering of Securities, if the Issuer receives any such notice from you after the Issuer has advised you of the amount of Securities allotted to you, this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect as to such offering and shall terminate with respect to such offering and all previous offerings only in accordance with and to the extent provided in subsection (a) of this Section.

 

14.          Indemnification .  The Issuer will indemnify and hold you harmless against any losses, claims, damages or liabilities (or actions in respect thereof), joint or several, to which you may become subject, under the 1933 Act or otherwise, and including reasonable legal expenses incurred by you in connection with investigating or defending any such action or claim as incurred, insofar as such losses, claims, damages or liabilities (or actions in respect thereof) arise out of or are based upon an untrue statement or alleged untrue statement of a material fact contained in the Registration Statement, the Preliminary Prospectus, the Prospectus, the Prospectus as amended or supplemented and any other free writing prospectus furnished by the Issuer relating to the Securities, or any amendment or supplement thereto, or arise out of or are based upon the omission or alleged omission to state therein a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading; provided , however , that neither the Issuer nor any affiliate thereof shall be liable in any such case to the extent that any such loss, claim, damage or liability arises out of or is based upon an untrue statement or alleged untrue statement or omission or alleged omission made in the Registration Statement, the Preliminary Prospectus, the Prospectus, the Prospectus as amended or supplemented and any other free writing prospectus furnished by the Issuer relating to the Securities or any such amendment or supplement, in reliance upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Issuer by you expressly for use therein.

 

To the extent the indemnification provided for in this Section is unavailable or insufficient in respect of any losses, claims, damages or liabilities referred to herein, then Barclays Bank PLC shall, in lieu of indemnifying you herein, contribute to the amount paid or payable by you as a result of such losses, claims, damages or liabilities (i) in such proportion as is appropriate to reflect the relative benefits received by the Issuer and its affiliates on the one hand and you on the other hand from the offering of Securities or (ii) if the allocation provided by clause (i) above is not permitted by applicable law, in such proportion as is appropriate to reflect not only the relative benefits referred to in clause (i) above but also the relative fault of the Issuer and its affiliates on the one hand and you on the other hand in connection with the misstatements or omissions that resulted in such losses, claims, damages or liabilities.  The relative benefits received by the Issuer and its affiliates on the one hand and you on the other shall be deemed to be in the same proportion as the total net proceeds from the sale of Securities received by the Issuer bear to the total fees (including placement fees) or discounts received by you in respect thereof.

 

15.          Agent; Notices .  Any notices from the Issuer to you shall be deemed to have been duly given if sent by facsimile transmission, personal delivery or registered mail to the address or facsimile number set forth at the foot of this Agreement, or at such other address or facsimile number as you shall have advised the Issuer in writing.  Any notice from you to the Issuer shall be sent by facsimile transmission, personal delivery or registered mail to:

 

Barclays Bank PLC
200 Park Avenue
New York, New York 10166
Attn:       General Counsel

 

Telephone:            212-412-4000
Telecopy:              212-412-1825

 

9



 

(or to such other address or facsimile number as you shall be notified by the Issuer).

 

16.          Suitability Requirements .  You agree that, in connection with any offering of Securities, you will comply with Rule 405 of the New York Stock Exchange, if applicable, and all other federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations (or rules of any self-regulatory organization) relating to the suitability of the Securities for purchase by any person to whom you sell or recommend Securities.  If you sell the securities to another dealer, you will do so pursuant to a master selected dealer agreement in which the dealer to whom you are selling the securities agrees to substantially comply with the suitability requirements contained herein.

 

17.          ERISA.  You agree that, in connection with any offering of Securities, you will only sell Securities to an account, pension, profit-sharing or other employee benefit plan (a “plan”) subject to ERISA or Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”), if the plan is purchasing, holding and disposing of the Securities pursuant to the “service provider” exemption (Section 408(b)(17) of ERISA and Section 4975(d)(20) of the Code).  Each and every time you act as agent in connection with the sale of any of the Securities to a plan, you represent and warrant that such plan (excluding any individual retirement accounts or “IRAs”) has acknowledged to you that Barclays Bank PLC and its affiliates are not fiduciaries of the plan in connection with such offering and sale of Securities.  Additionally you agree to take all actions necessary, including obtaining representations from such plan (excluding any IRAs), to confirm the foregoing.

 

18.          Governing Law . This Agreement shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York.

 

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Very truly yours,

 

 

 

 

 

BARCLAYS BANK PLC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Philippe El-Asmar

 

 

 

Name: Philippe El-Asmar

 

 

 

Title: Managing Director

 

 

 

Agreed: November 20, 2006

 

 

 

 

 

JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION,

 

 

ACTING THROUGH ITS “PRIVATE BANK”

 

 

AND “PRIVATE CLIENT SERVICES”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Kevin R. Alger

 

 

 

Name: Kevin R. Alger

 

 

 

Title: Managing Director

 

 

 

(If person signing is not an officer or a managing director, please attach instrument of authorization)

 

Address:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Telephone:

 

 

 

 

 

Facsimile:

 

 

 



 

Schedule I

 

Administrative Procedures

 

I-1



 

Appendix A—Primary Contact Details

 

I-2



 

Appendix B—Consolidated Form

 

I-3



 

Appendix C—Sample Daily Pricing Spreadsheet

 

I-4



 

Appendix D—Standard Settlement Instructions

 

I-5


 

Exhibit 1.7

 

GLOBAL MEDIUM TERM NOTES, SERIES A
AND OTHER SECURITIES OF BARCLAYS BANK PLC

 

Amendment to Agency Agreement

 

April 1, 2011

 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

1.             General .  You, the undersigned, JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association (“you” or the “Agent”), and Barclays Bank PLC, a public limited company organized under the laws of England and Wales (“we”, “us” or the “Issuer”), have previously entered into that certain Agency Agreement dated November 20, 2006  (the “Agency Agreement”).

 

2.             Amendment .  Upon the execution of this Amendment to Agency Agreement by both parties, Section 17 of the Agency Agreement shall be and hereby is amended in its entirety to read as follows:

 

17.   ERISA . You agree that, in connection with any offering of Securities, you will only sell Securities to an account, pension, profit-sharing or other employee benefit plan (a “plan”) subject to ERISA or Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) if such sale will not constitute or result in a prohibited transaction under Section 406 of ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code or unless an exemption is available with respect to such sale and all of the conditions of such exemption have been satisfied.  Additionally you agree to take all actions necessary, including obtaining representations from such plan (excluding any individual retirement accounts), to confirm that any such sale of Securities will not constitute or otherwise result in a non-exempt prohibited transaction.”

 

As used in the Agency Agreement, as amended by this Amendment to Agency Agreement, the terms “Agreement”, “this Agreement”, “herein”, “hereinafter”, “hereof”, “hereto” and other words of similar import shall mean the Agency Agreement as amended hereby.

 

3.             Counterparts .  This Amendment to Agency Agreement may be executed and delivered in counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original.

 

4.             Governing Law .  This Amendment to Agency Agreement shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York.

 

[SIGNATURE PAGE FOLLOWS]

 



 

 

 

Very truly yours,

 

 

 

 

 

BARCLAYS BANK PLC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Sean Gordon

 

 

 

Name: Sean Gordon

 

 

 

Title: Managing Director

 

 

 

Agreed: April 1, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION,

 

 

ACTING THROUGH ITS “PRIVATE BANK”

 

 

AND “PRIVATE CLIENT SERVICES”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Solita Kalaora

 

 

 

Name: Solita Kalaora

 

 

 

Title: Executive Director