Barclays disclosed the problem after it emerged that the bank had borrowed from the central bank's emergency facility on Wednesday evening. The bank claims a problem with the link between its electronic settlement systems and the Crest settlement house on Wednesday broke down for an hour. Barclays says it discovered it had a shortfall too late in the day to borrow from another high street bank. Barclays was also unable to source funds in the wholesale market and so had to tap the Bank of England for a loan.