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At 09:18 BST, the benchmark index was down 0.5 per cent at 5,255.17 points, Reuters reports, with shares in the bank dipping by 4.5 per cent on the news that Qatar is to sell off its shares.
Performance was also muted elsewhere in the financial sector, with HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland both declining and shares in Lloyds Banking Group remaining flat.
Despite this, the losses on the FTSE were limited by strong interest in mining stocks from investors.
Climbs of as much as 1.6 per cent were seen by Rio Tinto, Xstrata, Kazakhmys, Anglo American and Lonmin.
Market strategist Joshua Raymond noted that Apple's strong earnings results, which were announced in the US last night, may help to limit the FTSE's retreat.
He added that many investors are "taking a bit of a pause" after yesterday's increases.
