"The board of directors of Barclays Saudi Arabia and its executive management takes the issue raised by the media very seriously," the bank said on Saturday. "Barclays Saudi Arabia confirms that it did not make any illegal payment to the CMA (Capital Markets Authority) or any of its officials regarding the granting of Saudi license." "Barclays SA will continue to conduct business in the kingdom in accordance with the highest professional standards and is fully committed to the development of Saudi Arabia's financial market," the bank said. Barclays was licensed to start business in Saudi Arabia in August 2009 and given final approval to begin securities trading in May 2010 after the Saudi regulator said the bank had met all requirements. The CMA said last week that it was not aware of any investigations and had not received any inquiries from regulatory bodies on the issue.