AGM Statement

Barclays PLC
27 April 2006


                      BARCLAYS PLC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

                             THURSDAY 27 APRIL 2006

                   CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT BY MATTHEW W. BARRETT

I am honoured to be reporting to you once again, on behalf of the Board, on our
stewardship of Barclays during 2005.

This year saw Barclays achieve yet another record financial performance with a
15% increase in profit before tax (PBT) to over £5.2bn. This enabled us to
increase your dividend by 11%. Our total shareholder return (TSR) over the first
2 years of the current 4 year target period was 34%.

It was also a year of significant progress and accelerating momentum in
advancing our growth strategy on both the domestic and international fronts.

Customer satisfaction improved across the board. As a result we did more
business with existing customers and attracted a significant number of new ones.

The levels of employee engagement and morale - so crucial to providing quality
service to customers - improved. The organisation and workforce was further
strengthened by recruitment of outstanding young people fresh from universities
and business schools and, selectively, by attracting seasoned, proven
professionals in many disciplines to accelerate growth. Barclays is regarded as
an 'employer of choice' for the best and the brightest talent and this augers
well for the future development of the business.

In the area of Corporate Responsibility, our approach is founded on the concept
of 'Responsible Banking', and is an integral part of the way we do business.
Ensuring Barclays remains a leading company in the field of Corporate
Responsibility is a central element of our overall strategy to position Barclays
as one of the world's leading banks, and is one the Board has endorsed. We
publish today our seventh successive Corporate Responsibility Report which
highlights the areas both where we are regarded as leading-edge, and those areas
where we can and will do more in the future.

I believe we made particularly good progress during the year in the areas of
Financial Inclusion, Human Rights and in tackling the problems of climate
change. It was particularly encouraging that we were recognised externally as
the bank that has done most - worldwide - to advance thinking and action in the
area of Financial Inclusion. We also retained our membership of the Dow Jones
Sustainability Index and the FTSE4Good Index, both of which require us to
demonstrate responsible business practices. I encourage you to take a copy of
the report; I am confident you will find the report more readable and accessible
than in previous years.

Given the strength of the overall performance, the Board has asked me to
publicly give its thanks to more than 100,000 employees worldwide for their
dedication, hard work and accomplishments in 2005.

I have touched lightly on the highlights of performance for shareholders,
customers, employees and the community at large. Our CEO, John Varley, will
provide to you more details on these topics in a few minutes.

Before I ask John to comment, I would like to give you an update on Board and
governance developments at Barclays over the past year.

Sir David Arculus will be retiring as a Director at the end of today's meeting,
having given Barclays distinguished service as a Non-Executive Director over the
last nine years. He has made an enormous contribution as a Director and as a
member of our HR and Remuneration Committee and the Corporate Governance and
Nominations Committee. On behalf of the Board and, if I may, all shareholders, I
would like to thank David for his significant contribution and service to the
Board over the past 9 years.

There were a number of Board additions during 2005. John Sunderland, Chairman of
Cadbury Schweppes and Bob Steel, who was Vice-Chairman of Goldman Sachs prior to
his retirement, joined the Board as Non-Executive Directors on 1 June. John and
Bob bring to the Board experience of managing at the highest level in large,
multi-national organisations. Bob Diamond, President, and CEO Investment Banking
and Investment Management also joined the Board last year in recognition of the
increasing contribution to the Group of the businesses that he leads.

I am also delighted to welcome today Fulvio Conti, who joined the Board on 1
April. Fulvio is Chief Executive of Enel, one of Europe's largest utility
groups. These additions further strengthen your Board which now has a collection
of skills, competencies, experiences and perspectives highly relevant to the
business of Barclays. They also add expert knowledge of international market
places important to our strategy.

I am particularly saddened to report that Sir Nigel Mobbs, who served as a
Director for over 20 years until his retirement in April 2003, died late last
year. He is greatly missed.

To conclude, I'm pleased to report that we have received positive feedback on
both our corporate governance practices themselves and the quality and
transparency of our reporting. Our Charter of Expectations, which sets out the
role description for each board position and the requirements that the Directors
are expected to meet to fulfil it, has been described to be at the leading edge
of good practice by an independent specialist. This provides comfort to
shareholders on a very important subject.

I can report to shareholders that we once again conducted a thorough and formal
review of the performance and effectiveness of the Board, Board Committees and
individual Directors during 2005. The review concluded that the Board and its
Committees continue to operate effectively and the performance of each of the
Directors standing for re-election is fully effective.

Let me now ask John Varley, Group Chief Executive, for his review of 2005.


                   CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S STATEMENT BY JOHN VARLEY

Thank you, Chairman. Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am pleased to have
the opportunity to give you an update on our progress in 2005. But before I talk
about that progress, and about our financial performance, let me start with some
strategic context.

We want your company to be one of the handful of universal banks, leading the
global financial services industry. It's an ambition which we believe is
achievable, thanks to the power of the Barclays brand, and to our diversified
portfolio of businesses. In executing our strategy, we're clear about what we're
seeking to achieve on your behalf. That is: higher growth.

The pursuit of higher growth is what drives our investment priorities and this
is what has led us to diversify our businesses, and our geographical presence.
International credit cards, the capital markets, and institutional money
management are examples of high growth areas in the Industry.

So we've been investing heavily in Barclaycard International, Barclays Capital,
and Barclays Global Investors.

We believe that one of the fastest growing markets for financial services will
be the Republic of South Africa - and so last year we bought a controlling stake
in Absa, the leading retail bank in South Africa.

As a result of all this investment, not only is the distribution of our profits
by business a lot broader than it was five years ago. We are also increasingly
diversified by geography. Forty per cent of our profits now come from
outside the UK - up from 20% five years ago. And we want this to increase. We
expect that the plans that we have for our existing portfolio of businesses will
enable us to achieve an approximately even balance between UK and international
profits over the next three years.

We believe that internationalising the profit base of Barclays helps us to grow.
We tap into new markets, we identify and serve new customer segments, we develop
new products and we build relationships with new customers. Internationalisation
also helps us to protect our earnings by mitigating the impact of adverse
economic conditions in one part of the portfolio on the performance of the Group
as a whole.

Diversification matters, because diversification and growth are closely linked.

2005 was the latest in a series of growth years. In terms of total shareholder
return over the last five years, we rank fourth in our peer group, which
comprises the twelve leading banks in the world. Our compound growth in income
over the last five years has been 13%. The compound growth in dividends is also
13%.

In other words, as we execute our strategy to become one of the leading
universal banks, we seek to ensure that you feel well rewarded for your
investment.

I hope that the growing diversity of the Group will become clear as I talk about
each of our businesses in turn.

Let me start with UK Banking - the business that encompasses our branch network
and our corporate banking relationships here in the UK.

In 2005, profit in the retail part of this business - UK Retail Banking - grew by
7% or by 12% on a like for like basis. Our 2005 performance here is an
improvement on what I reported to you twelve months ago when I said, of 2004,
that year-on-year profit growth had been broadly flat. We believe that we can
lift the profits of UK Retail Banking significantly, through improved
performance in long term savings and investments, general insurance and
mortgages. We have been laying the tracks which enable us to achieve this.

The performance of UK Retail Banking in 2005 shows that the business is starting
to respond to the changes that we have been making. When you look at the
performance of a retail business, you should also look at customer flows -
because the ability to attract new customers is a critical sign of the health of
your franchise. These flows were encouraging in UK Retail Banking in 2005:

400,000 new current account customers
500,000 new registrants for our online banking service
250,000 new savings account customers
140,000 new customers of our fee-based Additions account.

So whilst we have a lot further to go in UK Retail Banking - and I'm very clear
about that - I'm confident that we're on the move.

UK Business Banking, the second component of UK Banking, is the biggest profit
contributor in Barclays. It performed well in 2005, with profits up 10% or 15%
on a like for like basis. The business model here is based on industry expertise
and relationship management. Our relationship teams are made up of sector
specialists, who have a deep understanding of the business of their clients.
It's a formula that's both distinctive and successful.

I'll turn now to our global businesses, starting with Barclays Capital.

Last year, Barclays Capital again delivered very strong profit growth: up 25%.
Its income is increasingly diversified, both by product and geography. What
drove the record profits of Barclays Capital in 2005 is continuing good
performance in the core businesses with additional growth from newer areas in
which we've been investing, such as credit derivatives, commodities and equity
products. This business mix, with its strong client focus, is important to
sustainability and growth.

Next: Barclays Global Investors the world's leading institutional money manager.
BGI had another outstanding year, with profits up by over 60%. Funds under
management now total over $1.5 trillion. 70% of BGI's income comes from outside
the UK, and our global client base has grown from 1,800 five years ago, to 2,800
today. These include 200 clients, for each of whom we manage more than one
billion dollars. One reason BGI has been so successful in attracting
new clients, and net new assets, is because of its investment performance, which
is outstanding. And of course, the growth of BGI is underpinned both by
demographics and by the fiscal pressure on governments to provide creative
retirement solutions.

Profit growth of over 50% in Wealth Management in 2005 demonstrates that we've
turned the corner in this business. Both customer and asset growth showed good
progress during the year. Customer deposits and assets under management grew 11%
to over £78 billion. I want Wealth Management to be an engine of growth in
Barclays. It's a classic synergy play. Combined with our manufacturing and
structuring capability across the Group, and with our UK and international
distribution base, we have the necessary ingredients for considerable growth.

Barclaycard has long been an engine of growth for your company. Compound growth
in profit over the four years up to and including 2004 was 16%.

But, in 2005, the profits of Barclaycard fell. This was the result of two
things: rising bad debts in the United Kingdom, and increased investment in our
international cards business. With the downturn in consumer confidence last
year, we have been, more then ever, thoughtful about responsible lending.

In 2005, we turned down over 50% of the applications we received for new credit
cards in the UK. We were cautious when setting credit limits. We carefully
monitored early warning signs of customers experiencing difficulties. Through
Barclaycard, we were the prime mover behind a scheme to share information with
other lenders, so that we can more easily identify customers who need our help.
We have specialist teams dedicated to helping customers in financial difficulty,
and we've long been a supporter of the National Debt Line, Citizens Advice, the
Money Advice Trust, and other organisations, which offer practical help to
customers who request it.

As a counterweight to cyclical trends our strategy at Barclaycard has been one
of diversification through partnerships in the UK (for example, with Sky
Television), and through expansion overseas. We now have over four
million international credit cards being used by non-UK customers. We have
multiple sources of momentum in this part of the business: in Scandinavia
(through our joint venture with Swedbank); in Barclaycard US (formerly known as
Juniper - the business we bought at the end of 2004); in Spain; and now in South
Africa.

There is a handful of credit card companies in the world that have genuinely
exportable competence, and Barclaycard is one of them. So this will continue to
be an area of strategic emphasis for us.

Our second source of profit diversification is International Retail and
Commercial Banking, or IRCB as we call it.

Within IRCB, the Iberian businesses are performing strongly. The core engine in
Spain is a strong retail banking platform. Through acquiring Banco Zaragozano in
2003, which we've now rebranded Barclays, we increased the number of customers,
and the number of branches, by about 200% - we now have about 500 branches in
Spain and about half a million customers.

Since last year's AGM, we have acquired the majority stake in Absa. Absa is the
largest retail bank in South Africa, and our investment there is the biggest
we've ever made outside the UK. Absa is performing strongly: its pre tax profit
contribution in the 5 months since completion in 2005 was £335 million, and its
performance is well ahead of the acquisition business plan. As with Spain, we
have acquired a strong retail banking platform, but with Absa we've also
acquired a powerful retail brand. That's a good combination in a market that's
seeing spectacular growth in demand for banking products.

That gives you an update on each business area.

I'll say a few words about the progress we've been making in strengthening what
we refer to as 'franchise health' - in other words, how we're doing with
customers, colleagues and communities.

I have said to you before that when we talk about franchise health, there are
two simple, but important, tests for us.

Do our customers and clients value their relationship with Barclays?

Are the people of Barclays proud to work here?

Our record financial performance in 2005 suggests that our customers do value
their relationship with us. But in some parts of the Group we need to work
harder at earning their loyalty. The quality of our service needs to be
consistent - and excellent - throughout our businesses.

This leads me to the second test - which is whether our colleagues are proud to
work for Barclays.

The answer is yes: our survey of employee opinion in 2005 showed that 76% of our
employees are proud to work for Barclays, up 13% from two years ago. Our people
understand, and I believe are excited by, the vision of becoming one of the few
universal banks leading the global industry and what they have to do, to help
achieve it. I see this for myself as I visit our operations. And whether I am
visiting a branch in Luton or Nairobi or Lisbon or the trading floor in Tokyo or
a call centre in Johannesburg or Cardiff, I am continually struck by our
people's loyalty to Barclays, and their commitment to our customers.

We are a people business. Relationships with customers lie at the heart of what
we do. Despite the advance of technology, and the automation of much of banking
activity (which has been good for the industry), we win, and keep, business,
thanks to the quality of our people, and the relationships that they build with
customers and clients.

That Barclays enjoyed a very good year in 2005 is down to our people. And I
thank them sincerely.

The third element of our franchise health is community.

In 2005, we committed over £39 million in support of community projects, both in
the UK and overseas. Across the Group, 26,000 employees took part in fundraising
and volunteering activities.

We contributed to the fight against HIV/Aids in Africa, by supporting our
employees with free testing, counselling and treatment.

In the area of financial inclusion, we have made good progress in creating
better access to banking services for people in society who have not been well
served by our industry. We've opened about 380,000 Basic Bank Accounts over the
last three years. In 2005, we launched Barclaycard Horizons, a programme to help
indebted single parents. And we started an initiative in central London to 
extend basic banking facilities to the homeless.

Our growth - and the growth of other banks - has contributed to the strength of
the communities we serve - and to the economies in which we operate. How is
this? As a bank, our role is to facilitate the taking of manageable risk whether
our customer is a single parent, wanting a mortgage to buy a flat in Manchester,
or the finance director of an American multinational, wanting to hedge its
exposure to fluctuating oil prices.

If a country has a banking sector that is capable of helping customers take such
risks, then that country will be richer (by which I mean that its economy will
be stronger). We only have to look at the recent experience of Japan to see what
happens to a country when its banks lose their appetite to lend. Economic growth
stagnates. Japan is now recovering quickly, and one of the key drivers of its
economic growth is that the banks are lending again.

If I were to sum up what I see in the results of your company in 2005: it is
that diversity and growth go hand in hand.

As for 2006, we have made a good start, continuing the trends we saw in 2005,
and building on the strong momentum we brought into the year.

A strong banking sector is one of the pillars of a stable society. So our growth
in 2005 is good for our shareholders and for this country and for the many other
countries in the world, where Barclays does business.

Thank you.

                                     -END-


For further information please contact:

Investor Relations                        Media Relations
------------------                        ---------------
Mark Merson/James S Johnson               Alistair Smith/Jo Thethi
[phone]/2927                 [phone]/6217


This document contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of
Section 21E of the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section
27A of the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended, with respect to certain of the
Group's plans and its current goals and expectations relating to its future
financial condition and performance. These forward-looking statements can be
identified by the fact that they do not relate only to historical or current
facts. Forward-looking statements sometimes use words such as 'aim',
'anticipate', 'target', 'expect', 'estimate', 'intend', 'plan', 'goal',
'believe', or other words of similar meaning. Examples of forward-looking
statements include, among others, statements regarding the Group's future
financial position, income growth, impairment charges, business strategy,
projected levels of growth in the banking and financial markets, projected
costs, estimates of capital expenditures, and plans and objectives for future
operations.

By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because
they relate to future events and circumstances, including, but not limited to,
the further development of standards and interpretations under IFRS applicable
to past, current and future periods, evolving practices with regard to the
interpretation and application of standards under IFRS, as well as UK domestic
and global economic and business conditions, market related risks such as
changes in interest rates and exchange rates, the policies and actions of
governmental and regulatory authorities, changes in legislation, progress in the
integration of Absa into the Group's business and the achievement of synergy
targets related to Absa, the outcome of pending and future litigation, and the
impact of competition - a number of which factors are beyond the Group's
control. As a result, the Group's actual future results may differ materially
from the plans, goals, and expectations set forth in the Group's forward-looking
statements. Any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of Barclays
speak only as of the date they are made. Barclays does not undertake to update
forward-looking statements to reflect any changes in Barclays expectations with
regard thereto or any changes in events, conditions or circumstances on which
any such statement is based. The reader should, however, consult any additional
disclosures that Barclays has made or may make in documents it has filed or may
file with the SEC.




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