LONDON, ENGLAND - Barclays, one of Britain's leading banks, said Monday it planned to raise more than 6.5 billion pounds ($16.2 billion) from investors, turning down the offer of government help.

"Given the strength of Barclays' well-diversified business and the existing capital base, the board expects that the additional capital will be raised from investors without calling on the government funding which has been offered," Barclays said in a statement.

The British government was later on Monday expected to announce plans to take controlling shares in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and HBOS, two of the banks worst affected by the global financial crisis, media reports said.

Government representatives could be installed on their boards in a move so unprecedented that trading in banks on the London stock market could be suspended to allow traders to digest the news, newspapers reported.

It would be the first implementation of a rescue package for banks announced last week, in which the government made available 50 billion pounds (64 billion euros, 87 billion dollars) to inject cash into banks in return for shares.

Lloyds TSB was another bank expected to ask the British government for billions of pounds worth of taxpayers money, media said.