At this stage in the proceedings, Barclays undoubtedly wishes it had never heard of Market Financial Solutions (MFS), the British non-bank that has gone into administration owing it $700m. And yet it was linked to MFS in more ways than one.

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Barclays not only leant money to MFS through its asset backed lending business, it also provided banking services to MFS, and it employed the founder’s son.

Rihan Dewan, the high yield credit trader who moved from Barclays to Deutsche Bank in September last year, is understood to be the son of Tiba Raja and the son in law of Paresh Raja, who founded MFS in 2006. 

Dewan spent just after three years at Barclays after joining from HSBC in 2022. He graduated from the University of Warwick in 2017.

There is no indication that Dewan was involved in any wrongdoing at Barclays or at MFS, but insiders aware of his parentage have been noting the coincidence. The Financial Times reported last week that Barclays began blocking some transactions relating to MFS months before it froze all accounts there in early January.

Dewan didn’t respond to a request to comment. Barclays declined to comment.

Bloomberg reported that Tiba and Paresh Raja spent their time moving between London, Monaco and Dubai and threw legendary parties for MFS staff, sometimes costing hundreds of millions of pounds. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Tiba and Paresh were holed up in Dubai. Paresh’s maiden name is Dewan. 

Barclays is likely to have made the loans to MFS through its investment bank. As a trader, Rihan Dewan was not involved. Some have suggested a conflict of interest simply because Rihan Dewan worked for Barclays, but this is not understood to have been the case.

Barclays’ share price has fallen nearly 20% in the past month. Fortunately, Rihan Dewan’s bonus will now be denominated in Deutsche Bank stock which is down only 16% over the same period.

Barclays rarely sounds exuberant about its investment bank. During its investor call last month, the bank explained that its prioritizing corporate banking over investment banking and said that it expects revenue growth in the business to slow in the next three years. 

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