Barclays Plc second-half profit may have fallen twenty-one percent on asset writedowns but you needn’t pity the UK bank, which is about to acquire a controlling stake in Russian pin-up calendar manufacturer Expobank. Yes, for the bargain price of about £200million, Barclays will be the proud owner of the retail and commercial bank which has lately gotten into the business of peddling employee ass-- the Russian lender has released a 2008 calendar featuring its female workers from top to bottom (by which I mean senior executives to secretaries, but also tits to toes). Senior chief economist Julia Kovyneva, senior manager Maria Guterman, network sales manager Yevgenia Trusilova, they’re all there, lounging on a bed, topless with cupcakes and bending over a kitchen counter, respectively.
Now I know what you’re thinking—the last time you posed for those sorts of photographs with the firm’s name stamped at the bottom, it didn’t go over so well with the higher-ups. Something about “embarrassing the company” with your trampy ass, yes? Are these girls going to get fired? No. The calendar was the brainchild of Expobank chairman Kirill Yakubovskiy, who wanted the pictures/slogans (“We work under your personal request,” "Expobank tries to find unusual and creative ways in everything," "We'll bend over backwards and forwards to make you happy,"etc) to reflect the bank’s dedication to “interacting with [its] clients.” I'm no client, but I think they got the job done. Judge February, March and April for yourself, after the jump. NSFW, unless you work in a whorehouse or a Russian bank.

Bare-clays Bank...High Street giant bids for Russian bank with a very saucy staff calendar [Daily Mail]