Barclays lawyers Matt Ziegler and Katherine Clarke were among those killed in an avalanche in the Italian Alps earlier this week.

The pair were among a group of four skiers whose bodies were reportedly found yesterday (4 February) in the northern Italian region of Valle d'Aosta.

New Zealand-born Clarke was an associate at Ashurst between 2006 and 2010 in the firm's securities and structured finance team, according to her LinkedIn profile.

She was a lawyer at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi for a year before joining Barclays as vice-president legal, where she supported its investment banking and wealth and investment management divisions in the Middle East and north Africa, the profile said. She was appointed as a director in the bank's private bank and overseas services group in 2017.

Ziegler was a New York-qualified lawyer, and had reportedly been recently working in the bank's Geneva office.

Barclays said in a statement: "It is with great sadness we learned of the tragedy in the Alps over the weekend. Our thoughts are with the families of all the victims, but especially those of our two colleagues, Matt and Katherine. We are supporting their families in every way we can and we are supporting their friends and colleagues at Barclays, who are devastated by the loss."