The bank has reportedly blacklisted a billionaire philanthropist and Tory Party backer because of fears about being able to comply with money laundering processes. Barclays declined to comment.

Wafic Saïd, a billionaire philanthropist, Conservative Party backer and former arms dealer, has been blocked from being a client of Barclays, according to a newspaper report.

The UK-listed bank, according to a report in The Times (of London), has also blacklisted the Saïd Foundation, which finances the Saïd Business School at Oxford University. The report said the trustees of the foundation are “furious” with Barclays and fear the charity may have to close.

The report did not quote Barclays or say if it had attempted to get a comment from the bank. The report said the bank “is understood to have become concerned it might not be able to satisfy regulators about its anti-money-laundering processes if it retained Mr Saïd and his associated charities and businesses as clients.”

This publication contacted Barclays and the bank said: “We never comment on these matters due to client confidentiality. We treat each case on individual merit.”

The foundation was told in December that Barclays would no longer provide services and that the charity had three months to make alternative arrangements, the newspaper said. The bank reportedly said it had no obligation to give its reasons. Said was given a similar personal ultimatum by Barclays, the report said.

If the story is correct, the matter underscores the importance of banks and other institutions having robust systems in place to scrutinise potential clients who can, for example, be defined as “politically exposed persons”. A number of firms, such as smartKYC, have developed services to fire out alerts about PEPs and potentially significant changes in their circumstances.