Barclays and four of its traders have been fined a total of $488m (£322m) for manipulating the energy markets in the United States.
Regulators said the energy market-rigging in western states took place between November 2006 and December 2008.
Barclays denies the allegations and says it intends to "vigorously defend this matter". In mid-morning trading on Wednesday its share price was down almost 1%.
The fines have been imposed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) which said the bank must pay $435m within 30 days, while the ex-managing director of the power trading team, Scott Connelly, must pay $15m (£10m).
Three former Barclays traders, Daniel Brin, Karen Levine and Ryan Smith, were also ordered to pay $1m (£660,000) each.
The penalty includes a $34.9m (£23m) levy from Barclays which will go to a low-income home energy assistance programme in the states of California, Arizona, Oregon and Washington.
The record fines, first proposed by the regulator's staff in October 2012, were upheld in an order after assessment by FERC commissioners.
But Barclays said in a statement: "We are disappointed by the action that FERC took.
"We believe the penalty assessed by the FERC is without basis, and we strongly disagree with the allegations made."
Barclays spokesman Marc Hazelton added: "We have cooperated fully with the FERC investigation, which relates to trading activity that occurred several years ago.
"We intend to vigorously defend this matter."
The penalty order said the FERC commissioners agreed with earlier findings by regulatory staff, which said the bank deliberately lost money in physical power markets to benefit its financial positions between 2006 and 2008, and that the traders knew their activity was unlawful.
The case will likely now move to federal court where Barclays intends to defend itself against the allegations that it has long disputed.
The case is expected to be a major test of FERC's enforcement powers, expanded by Congress in 2005 legislation that had its genesis in the Enron electricity manipulation scandals in the western US earlier in the decade.
Ron Wyden, the chairman of the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said FERC sent a strong message to traders and banks.
"Consumers have the right to heat and power their homes without fear that traders are stacking the deck against them to rack up unjust profits," Mr Wyden said.
Investigators used scrutiny of email and other correspondence to build the case against Barclays.
Since 2005, FERC has increased its enforcement division's staff to more than 200 from about a dozen, led by a number of high-profile law enforcement recruits.
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