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 posts flat profit of £7bn
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclays posts flat profit of £7bn
Barclays has recorded pre-tax profit of £7 billion for 2007, a 1% decrease on 2006.
Barclays Capital, the bank’s investment arm, recorded writedowns totalling £1.6 billion for the year, on loans connected to the US sub-prime mortgage crisis.
Despite the charge, Barclays Capital reported a 5% increase in pre-tax profit, to £2.3 billion.
Profit at the bank’s international [...]
Dividends to rise for Barclays and Lloyds TSB
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Dividends to rise for Barclays and Lloyds TSB
This week Barclays and Lloyds TSB are predicted to increase their dividend payouts.
The move would be seen as a ray of sunshine in a distinctly overcast banking sector.
It would also been seen as a sign that both banks, amongst the largest in the UK, believe they suffered the worst of the fallout from the [...]
Barclays acquires Goldfish
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclays acquires Goldfish
Barclays is acquiring the Goldfish credit card brand from Discover Financial Services of the US.
The bank is paying £35 million for Goldfish which has 1.7 million UK credit card clients with outstanding balances totalling £2 billion.
The acquisition should be completed this summer and Barclays plans to integrate Goldfish into Barclaycard, which has 9.6 million UK [...]
Barclays Lead Charges Defence
by Stewart Douglas
Story link: Barclays Lead Charges Defence
Retail bank Barclays has today fought back in the high profile bank charges test case with what it described as “throwing down the gauntlet” in order to establish the law relating to the penalties levied against customers straying into their overdraft without permission.
Its argument, lead by representing QC Iain Milligan from 20 Essex Street Chambers [...]
Barclays encouraged by US Supreme Court ruling
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclays encouraged by US Supreme Court ruling
Barclays and other banks that are involved in US court cases emanating from the Enron scandal have won a significant victory.
Earlier this week the US Supreme Court ruled that investors could not sue third parties for helping a business to commit fraud.
In the case of Stoneridge Investment Partners v Scientific-Atlanta the court ruled by [...]
Barclays boss defrauded by imposter
by Brian Turner
Story link: Barclays boss defrauded by imposter
A man posing as Barclay’s chairman Marcus Agius managed to draw £10,000 from one of the company’s high street branches.
The fraudster is believed to have used details about Mr Aguis found online to persuade call centre staff to issue a Barclaycard for the fraudster.
While embarrassing for Barclay’s executives, it comes close on the heels of [...]
Barclays’ chief victim of ID theft
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclays’ chief victim of ID theft
Marcus Agius, the chairman of Barclays Bank, has been the victim of identity theft.
A fraudster rang a Barclays call centre, claiming to be Mr Agius, and convinced one of the bank’s employees to send him a new credit card. The card was then used to withdraw £10,000 from a Barclays branch.
The blunder has left the [...]
Hedge fund collapse causes Barclays to sue
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Hedge fund collapse causes Barclays to sue
Bear Stearns, the Wall Street bank, is being sued by Barclays after a hedge fund the firm invested in failed.
However, Stearns has retaliated by claiming the filing of a lawsuit is simply to decoy to try and draw attention from Barclays’ poor judgement.
Barclays was the only investor in the hedge fund and has alleged that [...]
Barclaycard raises alarm with upgrade to OnePulse
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclaycard raises alarm with upgrade to OnePulse
Barclaycard has plans to replace some of its customers’ credit cards with new “three-in-one” cards that will include a cashless payment facility.
The credit card provider has already begun writing to its Platinum cardholders living within London and the south-east, to advise them they are being “upgraded” to a OnePulse card.
OnePulse combines a credit card with [...]
ADB says corruption is affecting Pakistani educational projects
by Richard Kilner
Story link: ADB says corruption is affecting Pakistani educational projects
The Asian Development Bank has condemned Pakistan’s education sector, describing it as being damaged by corruption, lack of funding and gender and regional inequalities. These problems all cause and maintain social inequality and a poorly delivered education service.
An evalutation report by the ADB has said that a drastic improvement is required if Pakistan is to [...]
City recruitment freeze as bonuses set to fall
by Gill Montia
Story link: City recruitment freeze as bonuses set to fall
Banks in the City are reported to be freezing recruitment in response to the huge writedowns taken in relation to the US sub-prime mortgage crisis.
Barclays Capital, Morgan Stanley, ABN Amro, Bank of America and Citigroup are all apparently cutting back on new appointments.
The posts particularly affected include risk analysts, financial controllers, audit and treasury [...]
Barclays report good performance
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Barclays report good performance
Yesterday Barclays issued its trading update, increasing speculation regarding the Royal Bank of Scotland’s upcoming statement which is due on 6 December.
Barclays’ update has been seen as reassuring, with analysts saying that the reasonably good UK retail information was probably generally applicable to what the RBS would have to say.
Barclays also had a good showing [...]
Barclays Bad Debt Exposure Showing Positive Signs
by Stewart Douglas
Story link: Barclays Bad Debt Exposure Showing Positive Signs
British bank Barclays has today reported no further increase in the level of bad debt exposure faced from its consumer borrowers, despite several successive interest rate rises over the course of this year as a result of the Bank of England’s anti-inflation measures.
The bank, which had recently come under fire after failing to secure the [...]
Barclays forecasts profit of £7.1bn
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclays forecasts profit of £7.1bn
Barclays has reported that it expects profits from its High Street and Barclaycard operations to offset a £1.3 billion credit write down at Barclays Capital, its investment business.
The bank is forecasting pre-tax profits for the full year of around £7.1 billion, despite the fact that Chris Lucas, finance director at Barclays, has described its [...]
Barclays has £1.3bn writedown for sub-prime losses
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Barclays has £1.3bn writedown for sub-prime losses
Barclays has announced it is writing down £1.3bn of losses due to securities linked to the American housing crisis. Though substantial, the figure is less than had been feared. Last week it had been rumoured that the losses could total $10bn, but the actual figure is the equivalent of just $2.7bn.
The move has added pressure [...]
Barclays quells rumours with news of £1.3bn writedown
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclays quells rumours with news of £1.3bn writedown
Barclays, the UK’s third largest bank, has ended rumours of huge losses with the news that it will writedown £1.3 billion on securities linked to the US sub-prime mortgage market.
On Friday of last week, shares in Barclays were suspended following speculation that losses could be as high as £10 billion.
The bank has today reported that [...]
Barclays calls in auditors amid City rumours
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclays calls in auditors amid City rumours
Mounting fears about the true level of losses in the US sub-prime mortgage crisis have led Barclays to bring in its auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, to prepare a trading update, due to be published on 27th November.
The bank does not normally publish figures in its trading updates but on this occasion will provide additional information aimed at [...]
Barclays Sub-Prime Rumours ‘Unsubstantiated’
by Stewart Douglas
Story link: Barclays Sub-Prime Rumours ‘Unsubstantiated’
Barclays bank has today again been involved in speculation as to its performance, dismissing claims that it was preparing to uncover significant losses in exposure to US sub-prime linked securities.
The news today that the bank may be preparing to unveil its true exposure to the sub-prime collapse sees yet another dark day for the British [...]
Dresdner posts €575m third-quarter loss
by Gill Montia
Story link: Dresdner posts €575m third-quarter loss
Concerns over the global banking industry have been heightened by the news that Desdner, the Allianz-owned German bank, has posted a loss of €575 million as a result of the US sub-prime mortgage crisis and the ensuing chaos on the money markets.
In its statement, Desdner referred to “financial market turbulence” in the third quarter reducing [...]
Barclays Shares Fall Amidst Ongoing Liquidity Scrutiny
by Stewart Douglas
Story link: Barclays Shares Fall Amidst Ongoing Liquidity Scrutiny
Barclays Bank was again today under scrutiny as share prices fell in market trade amidst rumours it had become the second UK bank subject to emergency Bank of England funding in the wake of the sub-prime lending crisis.
Barclays, which has been very much under scrutiny since failing to secure the backing of shareholders for its [...]
