Barclays news
Barclays is a global financial services provider engaged in retail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealth management and investment management services.
Barclays operates through six main business sectorss: UK Banking, Barclaycard, International Retail and Commercial Banking, Barclays Capital, Barclays Global Investors and Barclays Wealth.
Main Barclays products:
- Current accounts
- Personal investments (including ISA's)
- Loans
- Mortgages
- Home insurance
- Car insurance
- Travel insurance
Website: Barclays
Latest Barclays News:
Barclays settles US sanction busting charges
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclays settles US sanction busting charges
Barclays has agreed to pay $298 million (£190 million) to settle sanction busting charges in the US, having undertaken financial transactions with banks in Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Myanmar, between 1995 and September 2006.
According to US court documents, the bank voluntarily disclosed some of the transactions and has co-operated fully with investigations.
The settlement, which [...]
Barclays’ profit up 44%
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclays’ profit up 44%
Barclays has reported group pre-tax profit of £3.9 billion for the first half of 2010, up 44% on a year earlier.
Income rose 8%, to £16.6 billion, and impairment provision fell 32%, to just over £3 billion.
Investment banking unit, Barclays Capital, saw a sharp decrease in impairment but the improvement was partially offset by a rise [...]
UK banks alleged to have mis-sold mortgage-backed securities
by Gill Montia
Story link: UK banks alleged to have mis-sold mortgage-backed securities
HSBC, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland are among 15 banks being sued in the US for mis-selling mortgage-backed securities, The Daily Telegraph has reported.
Boston-based investment firm, Cambridge Place Investment Partners, has also named JPMorgan, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, UBS, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as alleged mis-sellers.
All the banks involved [...]
Barclays embarks on Japanese wealth management JV
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclays embarks on Japanese wealth management JV
Barclays has signed a joint venture agreement with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and its wholly owned subsidiary, Nikko Cordial Securities, to provide wealth management services to high net worth individuals in Japan.
The deal will see the creation of SMBC Barclays Wealth Division, which will be co-headed by Yukihide Sakai, Hisatsugu Yoshida and Kiyokazu Watanabe, [...]
Barclays flags up investment banking downturn
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclays flags up investment banking downturn
At a seminar yesterday focused on Barclays’ global retail banking businesses, the group’s finance director, Chris Lucas, commented that the trends underlying the bank’s performance in the second quarter of 2010 have been similar to Q1.
However, he noted exceptions as follows:
“As has been widely reported, investment banking market conditions
in May and June have been softer, [...]
Barclaycard enhances e-commerce with SmartPay
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclaycard enhances e-commerce with SmartPay
Barclaycard is to launch a new payment processing system this summer, which should help its e-commerce customers better manage cross-border payments in the European Union.
Barclaycard SmartPay works by giving firms access to one single payment processing system that can be tailored to provide a range of language and currency settings.
The new method also embodies a [...]
RBS world’s fourth-largest lender
by Gill Montia
Story link: RBS world’s fourth-largest lender
In its annual review of the world’s top 1,000 banks, The Banker magazine has ranked Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) as the world’s fourth-largest lender.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch heads the list, followed by JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup.
The UK’s HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group also appear in the top 15, taking fifth, [...]
Barclays utilises SAS® for better capital management
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Barclays utilises SAS® for better capital management
Barclays is utilising SAS®, the leader in Business Analytics software and services, to perpetually improve the calculation and reporting of economic and regulatory capital.
SAS has enabled Barclays to calculate capital across a range of business units, with changing internal and external methodologies.
Head of Capital Systems Development for Barclays Global Retail Bank Rob Bishop explained that [...]
Barclays’ president defends price of Lehman Brothers assets
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclays’ president defends price of Lehman Brothers assets
Barclays’ president, Bob Diamond, appeared before a US bankruptcy judge yesterday to defend his bank’s $1.89 billion acquisition of certain of Lehman Brothers’ assets.
In September 2008, Barclays bought Lehman Brothers’ investment banking and capital markets businesses, two data centres and its New York headquarters, after walking away from discussions aimed at saving the bank.
Creditors of [...]
Barclays seeks expansion in carbon markets
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclays seeks expansion in carbon markets
Barclays has made a bid for Swedish carbon trading firm, Tricorona AB.
The bank is offering around £98 million for the Stockholm-listed company, through its wholly-owned subsidiary TAV AB.
Tricorona specialises in the sourcing, development and trading of Certified Emission Reductions from greenhouse gas reduction projects in developing countries.
According to the bank, the acquisition would [...]
Competition Commission moves closer to PPI ban
by Gill Montia
Story link: Competition Commission moves closer to PPI ban
The Competition Commission has provisionally decided to implement its proposed ban on the sale of payment protection insurance (PPI) alongside a consumer credit agreement, and for a period of seven days thereafter.
PPI is intended to cover repayments on unsecured loans if the borrower loses their job or becomes too ill to work.
However, the insurance became [...]
Barclays’ shareholders stirred on remuneration
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclays’ shareholders stirred on remuneration
Barclays’ shareholders are being advised to vote against the bank’s remuneration report at its Annual General Meeting to be held on the 30th April.
The recommendation comes from PIRC, a leading research and advisory consultancy that provides services to institutional investors on corporate governance and corporate social responsibility.
According to reports, the firm is advising its clients [...]
Barclays brings retail investors closer to IPOs
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclays brings retail investors closer to IPOs
Barclays Capital has formed a joint venture with Solid Solutions Associates (SSA) which will enable UK retail investors to escape the low interest rates currently offered on cash deposits.
SSA manages and implements retail share offerings and will be advising the bank on Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) to be listed in London and elsewhere.
Barclays is expecting [...]
Lehman creditors v Barclays case goes ahead
by Gill Montia
Story link: Lehman creditors v Barclays case goes ahead
Barclays will face a trial over an alleged £11 billion “windfall” resulting from its acquisition of Lehman Brothers’ assets.
After walking away from discussions aimed at saving the bank in September 2008, Barclays bought Lehman Brothers’ investment banking and capital markets businesses, two data centres and its New York headquarters.
The failed investment bank’s creditors have since [...]
Barclaycard Freedom doubles “Reward Money”
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclaycard Freedom doubles “Reward Money”
Barclaycard has reported that £165,000 has been earned by its Barclaycard Freedom credit card customers in just two weeks.
Furthermore, to celebrate the successful launch of its “Reward Money” scheme, Barclaycard is doubling the amount cardholders can earn at participating retailers, until 17th May.
Around 30,000 retail outlets across the UK belong to the scheme, including big [...]
RBS fined £28m for competition law breach
by Gill Montia
Story link: RBS fined £28m for competition law breach
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has agreed to pay a fine of £28.59 million after admitting breaches of competition law to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
The agreement follows an OFT investigation which found that between October 2007 and February or March 2008, staff at RBS’s Professional Practices Coverage Team disclosed confidential future pricing information [...]
Barclays accused of raiding staff pensions to pay bonus tax
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclays accused of raiding staff pensions to pay bonus tax
Barclays has been accused by The Daily Telegraph of using the pension benefits of 17,000 branch and other frontline staff to offset the cost of the Government’s bank bonus tax, which will have been chargeable at 50% on bonuses paid out at the group’s investment banking division.
Last year, the bank closed its final-salary pension scheme [...]
Barclays advocates JV approach for developers
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Barclays advocates JV approach for developers
The British Property Federation and consultants Real Service are hosting a lunch attended by numerous influential property chiefs and senior bankers from Barclays and Deutsche Bank.
The guests will discuss means by which the property market can enhance its reputation and improve its future prospects.
BPF Chief Executive Liz Peace has warned that developers can no longer [...]
Barclaycard launches Reward Money
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclaycard launches Reward Money
Barclays has launched Barclaycard Freedom, a new reward scheme available to over eight million Barclaycard holders.
The scheme allows customers to earn Reward Money by using their Barclaycards to buy goods and services at 30,000 participating retail outlets.
Big brands such as npower and Pizza Express are on board, with Shell the latest household name to [...]
Fairer deal for credit card customers
by Gill Montia
Story link: Fairer deal for credit card customers
The Government has announced new measures aimed at giving credit card customers a fairer deal.
The contentious issue of order of payments has been settled once and for all, with the most expensive debt on a card to be paid off first (currently few providers do this).
Customers will have 30 days in which to reject increases [...]
