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Monday 06th of September 2010

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:

August 17, 2010

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 [...]



August 5, 2010

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 [...]



July 12, 2010

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 [...]



July 2, 2010

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, [...]



July 1, 2010

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, [...]



June 22, 2010

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 [...]



June 3, 2010

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 [...]



May 14, 2010

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 [...]



April 21, 2010

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 [...]



April 13, 2010

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 [...]



April 12, 2010

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 [...]



April 10, 2010

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 [...]



March 30, 2010

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 [...]



March 18, 2010

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 [...]



March 17, 2010

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 [...]



March 15, 2010

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 [...]




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