We have been asked why we invest in nine defence companies supplying Israel, but this mistakes what we do.

Barclays trades in shares of listed companies in response to client instruction or demand and that may result in us holding shares. We are not making investments for Barclays and Barclays is not a ‘shareholder’ or ‘investor’ in these companies in that sense, and therefore cannot divest; it would be misleading to suggest otherwise. We continue to provide a range of financial services to the defence sector, including US, UK and European defence companies.