Barclays to take $2.7bn subprime hit

Barclays Plc, UK's third-biggest bank, will write down about 1.3 billion pounds ($2.7 billion) on credit-related securities tied to the US subprime mortgage market collapse, according to a report on the website of Bloomberg.

The company will write down and take net charges of 500 million pounds for the third quarter and 800 million pounds for October, the London-based bank said in a statement today, the report said.

The world's largest securities firms and banks have announced more than $40 billion of third- and fourth-quarter losses from writedowns of collateralized debt obligations and other debt backed by mortgages to people with poor credit. The writedowns prompted the resignations of the CEOs of New York-based Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, the report added.