Barclays is launching the second phase of its global panel review, with the bank this week to send out a tender document to law firms across Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.

The review, which is being led by Barclays Capital EMEA general counsel Erica Handling and Barclays deputy group GC Michael Shaw, comes just over a month after Barclays concluded a three-month review of its roster of external advisers in the US and UK.

The process will lead to the formation of a new, single panel covering Europe, the Middle East and Asia, with legal advisers in Africa set to be reviewed separately later.

The panel is due to be completed before the New Year. One lawyer at the bank told Legal Week: "The tender process will be a lot more straightforward than the one we conducted earlier this year, partly because our legal spend for these regions is significantly lower. We will send out a truncated version of the original documentation this week."

One Hong Kong-based relationship partner said: "Firms already on the US/UK roster with presences in these regions will also be asked to pitch, but are in a better position to win a spot. There will be fierce competition among those firms that didn't make it earlier this year."

The recent review saw three US law firms added to Barclays' 11-strong general advisory panel for the first time, with 68 firms appointed in total across all sub-panels.

For more, see Elite US trio added to Barclays panel after review of bank's advisers.