Barclays in legal battle with MFS administrators over frozen bank accounts

It has been widely reported that AlixPartners, which was appointed as joint administrators for MFS in February, filed a High Court claim against Barclays on Friday 31st July, to reclaim funds from the failed lender.

Barclays was known to have high levels of exposure to MFS, although the bank’s group chief executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan said its exposure to MFS was “materially lower” than the £500m that has been reported and was a number that was “not the kind that would have been material enough for us to report on an inter-quarter basis.”

MFS entered administration in February, shocking the specialist finance sector and leading to the FCA launching an investigation into the lender as part of its Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017.

Despite the business originally claiming an “unexpected banking issue” was to blame for the collapse, court documents later suggested allegations of double pledging, where the same properties were used repeatedly as security for multiple loans.

Court filings, seen by B&C, revealed that MFS’ accounts had been frozen by Barclays in November 2025.

Former CEO Paresh Raja is believed to be in Dubai, where a spokesperson said he has been a resident for the past five years and it is reported there is an asset freezing order imposed on him.

Kirkland & Ellis, which is representing the administrators to MFS, and AlixPartners declined to comment on the latest court filing.

B&C has contacted Barclays for comment.