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DYOR is a good lesson.
My situation exactly seems like yesterday but it's been 20 years also bought at £3 after it zoomed up from near £1 at that time I thought it will definitely hit £5+ due to previous price action but not to be. However I did keep buying at lower prices and am now in good profit. ATB mate.
Hi ,buying shares are a gamble as you are aware, l have been investing here for 20 years I’ve bought at £3 and at £1 but I’m just building a holding for my and my kids future. If you need the money short term don’t invest it . We will see £3 again just have to wait , enjoy the dividends or reinvest them .
Honestly, it's tough to write this. Over the past five years, I've seen a lot about Barclays. Despite optimistic predictions, the price hasn't risen much from where it is now. Do some people know more than others, or are they just talking? Similar things happened with other stocks I've had. What can I learn from this?
At the same time, though, the company has vowed to invest more heavily in other areas within the bank, including its UK-focused offerings and its US credit-card arm. For instance, Barclays expects risk-weighted assets to climb by roughly £50 billion ($64 billion) in the coming years and it’s not planning to allocate any of the additional capital to the investment bank.
Managers in the division are also under pressure to trim £700 million in costs by 2026 as they seek to whittle the unit’s cost-to-income ratio down to a percentage in the high-50s. That metric, which shows how much it costs to produce a pound of revenue, ended last year at 69%.
“The simple way to think about it is that we’re looking for the investment bank to grow and to contribute more while consuming less,” Venkatakrishnan said at the event last month.
Bankers on Edge
Inside the investment bank division, staffers have been on edge for months as they awaited executives’ decisions on the fate of the unit, Bloomberg reported late last year.
The division has been reeling from a grim bonus season in which Barclays handed dozens of investment bankers no bonus at all. Tensions have also been running high as executives have spent recent months trying to recover from the period of higher-than-usual attrition last year.
After those departures, the division’s leaders — Cathal Deasy and Taylor Wright — began offering guaranteed bonuses and paying more to those who threatened to leave, Bloomberg reported last month. Those moves further depleted the bonus pool this year, frustrating bankers who stayed, people familiar with the matter said at the time.
The investment bank “is a critical part of Barclays and will continue to be an important part of Barclays,” Venkatakrishnan said last month. “I’m equally clear that there is a lot more to do. Our investment bank has to be higher returning. And, relatively speaking, it has to become a smaller part of Barclays.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-20/barclays-preparing-to-cut-hundreds-of-jobs-in-investment-bank?utm_content=business&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&sref=2h1zKciy
Barclays Readies Hundreds of Job Cuts in Investment Bank
Cuts will affect dealmaking, trading and research divisions
Bank embarking on yearslong effort to improve unit’s returns
By Jan-Henrik Foerster and Pamela Barbaglia
20 March 2024 at 18:27 GMT
Updated on 20 March 2024 at 19:06 GMT
Barclays Plc is preparing to cut several hundred jobs within its investment bank division as the firm embarks on a yearslong efforts to trim costs and boost profits within the unit, according to people familiar with the matter.
The cuts will affect staffers in global markets, research and the firm’s investment banking arm, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing non-public information. They are expected to take place in the coming months and are part of the firm’s annual cutting of low performers, the people said.
“We regularly review our talent pool to ensure that we can invest in high-performing talent, execute on our strategy, and deliver for our clients,” Barclays said in an emailed statement, which noted it hasn’t finalized the number of roles included in this year’s review.
In recent months, Wall Street giants from Citigroup Inc. to JPMorgan Chase & Co. have turned to job cuts in response to the global slump in dealmaking and capital markets activity. At Barclays, the moves come as the company is kicking off a lengthy push to improve the profitability of its investment bank division, which has been stung by that dearth of activity as well as higher-than-usual attrition among dealmakers.
Barclays has long faced questions from investors about the viability of its Wall Street operations because the investment bank consumes more capital than other, higher-returning divisions across the firm. Last month, Chief Executive Officer C.S. Venkatakrishnan sought to put those questions to rest as he laid out plans for the unit to become more profitable by focusing on boosting its advisory and equity underwriting offerings.
As part of that work, the company has been refocusing its businesses on industries it believes will be most active in the coming years, including financial sponsors and energy companies that are navigating away from greenhouse gas emissions. To that end, Barclays won a mandate to advise Equitrans Midstream Corp. on its $5.5 billion sale to the US natural gas producer EQT Corp. this month.
Barclays Looks to Sovereign Wealth Funds in IB Push
Barclays Chief Executive Officer C.S. Venkatakrishnan says the bank is hoping to expand its relationships with sovereign wealth funds and private equity giants as it looks to broaden its footprint in advisory and equity underwriting.
I don’t think they are trying to shed, rather cut costs in areas that provide little value. Most customers bank online, there are very few reasons to visit a branch nowadays. It simply makes no sense to keep that overhead when the people walking in are not the ones adding to the top or bottom lines. You can pay in cash at the post office now so options are still available.
Here’s a thing…and I acknowledge I am reflecting retail banking services in central London but:
Barclays have closed 6 branches within 45 minutes’ walking distance…if you’re very fit…and left one open, reduced opening hours, and cut teller time even more so . Net result there are long queues to see a teller and to use the machines…luckily, on a ledge as you queue, they have sellotaped a laminate A4 from the Post Office offering all sorts of banking services…..Bank of Ireland provides Post Office banking not Barclays. Is Barclays looking to buy Bank of Ireland or shove all those pesky retail customers on to Bank of Ireland? …I think we should be told.
Evening All,
The title says it all...
Here's the link: https://www.tradingview.com/news/reuters.com,2024:newsml_L5N3FW2PG:0-citi-sees-european-banks-valuation-cheap-but-q1-miss-likely-adds-barclays-to-top-picks/
Regards, MrA
Evening All,
Here is the Bloomberg Podcast for those that may have missed it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZv1Fqij-U0
Regards, MrA
Vim Maru is the new CEO of Barclays UK, while Matt Hammerstein, the previous holder of that role, is now leading the UK corporate bank. Sasha Wiggins is leading the private bank and wealth management division.
Loan Growth
The bank also said last month that it sees risk-weighted assets climbing by £50 billion in the coming years. The company is planning to allocate £30 billion of that to its UK-focused businesses, which include a consumer bank, a corporate bank and a private bank and wealth management division. The remaining £20 billion will be allocated to the US consumer bank.
Part of that is tied to the company’s confidence in the health of the UK and US economies even as the company has seen delinquencies among its consumer customers tick up slightly in recent months, Venkatakrishnan said on Monday.
“The economy is stabilizing, it looks like on both sides of the Atlantic you’re having a softish landing,” he said. “Generally, we are constructive towards lending.”
Bloomberg) -- Barclays Plc is seeking to expand its relationships with sovereign wealth funds and private equity giants as part of its efforts to improve the profitability of its investment banking division by expanding in advisory and equity underwriting.
Those firms — which are sitting on trillions of dollars of dry powder for deals — are the kind of key clients Barclays is hoping to secure as it looks to move beyond the debt underwriting for large, multinational corporations that it’s long been known for, Chief Executive Officer C.S. Venkatakrishnan said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. The bank already has the talent it needs to accomplish that shift, he said.
“We still work with corporations in a very big way, but, in addition to that, you’ve got the financial sponsors and the sovereign wealth funds,” Venkatakrishnan said. “The growth of concentrated pools of capital makes it important to have that full relationship with those players in the market.”
Barclays and its rivals are betting that sovereign wealth funds will continue to deploy billions of dollars to get private equity takeovers across the line amid a broader dearth in deals by corporations. Sovereign wealth funds spent a record $17.2 billion on such co-investments in the first half of last year, which was up 24% from the same period in 2022, Bloomberg has previously reported.
Read more: Private Equity Titans Tap Sovereign Wealth to Get Deals Done
Barclays shares have struggled in recent years and the bank has long faced questions about the viability of its investment bank because of the amount of capital it consumes relative to other, higher-returning parts of Barclays’s business.
But Venkatakrishnan has said that is because it has a larger footprint in debt capital markets relative to peers. That is why he’s now focused on expanding in merger advisory and stock underwriting.
“When you move into advisory fees you start getting a better return on your capital — I think it is an important part of the shift,” he said on Monday. “Our job is to, having created the plan, is to execute it and the share price hopefully will follow.”
Barclays last month announced it would go on a £2 billion ($2.55 billion) cost-cutting drive and reorganize its reporting structure in order to boost profits. The bank vowed to return at least £10 billion to shareholders in the coming years, while it boosts revenue to £30 billion.
Shares of Barclays have surged 9.3% since it unveiled those plans on Feb. 20, making it one of the best performers in the FTSE 100 Index.
As part of the changes, Venkatakrishnan also shuffled his top managers. Adeel Khan was appointed sole head of the global markets division, while his former co-head Stephen Dainton became president of Barclays Bank Plc and head of investment bank management. Cathal Deasy and Taylor Wright are continuing in their current roles as co-heads of banking.
Https://www.ii.co.uk/analysis-commentary/can-barclays-shares-make-move-above-200p-ii531090
'The situation now looks like above 179.5p should next trigger share price movement to an initial 191.4p, along with a strong visual suggestion of some hesitation as this ambition matches the highs of 2023'.
'Our secondary is a bit vague, thanks to the circled manipulation gap. Closure above 191p should move the share price into a region, where our secondary calculates at 201p, perhaps even 221p, assigning the share a position where some true long-term recovery looks possible'.
... via Bloomberg Business News Live accessible for free on YouTube.
Morning All,
Hope everyone is well.
As per message title this may be worth a watch?
Regards, MrA
Have three tranches of these, averaging in the very low 140's.
Looking to trim a few and lock in some profits.
GLA
Reason why they have gone up is they are cheap on a P/E basis.
Hotter economy data means interest rate higher for longer, which is a positive to NIM - a main source of bank earning. A hotter economy also means less bad loan write off, which is another positive factor.
With government printing so much money, inflation will last longer and central banks will hold off from cutting interest rate. Inflation reacceleration would be a disaster for FED and BOE to contain it. Crude has gone up in past a few month. If March inflation data continues to show higher than expected inflation, stock may turn south quickly and bank stock will eventually follow the macro market.
Any major reason all the banks have gone up? A lot of other stocks are still in the crud
There’s a good chance they could have closed or reduce the position since and it has simply not been reported yet?
JY, agreed, they may burn their fingers...to be seen!
I'm not a great fan of institutional manipulation and/or short selling! Not good for small guys/gals like us.
A better one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIfixbq_u0Q
I wouldn't say its a dark cloud. Everyone things Institutions get it right all the time, but they done and that's why and most traders with a portfolio will hedge. By adding to the short we may see that as they are 100% certain its going down, but they could also be averaging and hoping for a 50% drop to breakeven an exit if they go it wrong. The shrot could just be a retracement short covering a 5% retracement from such a rise. Yes its not great too see, and will impact the momentum but nothing goes up in a straight line anyway. Personally I wouldn't worry about it, its a Credit Sussie ex and we all know how well they did. Anyhow, check this old footage out of how Cramer explaining how his institution try to manipulate stocks....... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r07Gg92YjOI
Since they are quite a few people mentioned the increased short position, which stands at 0.8% today.
I did a calculation based on the filing date close price and the percentage. The short position has a total cost £204.7M, paid £4M dividend and on paper loss £14.7M or ~7%.
Let's see how this plays out. The short either wins big if economy turns to south quickly and bank starts to lose money and forced to stop buybacks, or the short can dig a really deep hole by themselves. A paper loss above 10% would require risk management review and justification. An even deeper loss will certainly incur some people to lose their jobs.
Three Black bankers lose UK race discrimination claim against Barclays
Three Black bankers, who sued Barclays (BARC.L) for a combined 52.8 million pounds ($66.7 million) in London over allegations that included race discrimination, harassment, victimisation and whistleblower detriment, have largely lost their case.
In a near 460-page judgment, the East London Employment Tribunal dismissed the bulk of claims brought by Louis Samnick, a former vice president, vice president Christian Abanda Bella and Henry-Serge Moune Nkeng, an assistant vice president.
The three men of Cameroonian background, who represented themselves in the lengthy case, had alleged they had been bullied, harassed and denied promotion and appropriate support, in part because of their race.
Samnick, a former vice president in the bank's credit risk model validation team, and Abanda Bella, a quantitative analyst, succeeded with a claim that Barclays had failed to make reasonable adjustments for their disabilities during a 2019 performance review.
In a judgment made public on Wednesday, the judge said health issues faced by Samnick and Abanda Bella were sufficiently significant to allow them compensation for this part of the claim. All other complaints failed.
Barclays did not immediately reply to a request for comment and Reuters was unable to reach the claimants.
Abanda Bella joined Barclays in 2017 but has been signed off work with depression since 2019. In his 2019 appraisal, carried out in his absence, his performance was assessed as "needs improvement". Samnick, who received the same 2019 performance rating, had been on sick leave since September 2019.
Ranked as a vice president for 10 years, Samnick resigned in 2021 after securing another bank job at executive director grade, the judgment showed.
A remedy hearing will be called if the parties cannot agree compensation for the single failure to make reasonable adjustments for disabilities.
Their short position has now increased to 0.8% as of the 12th March. I thought we were through the tough times only for the dark clouds of an institutional shorter to appear.