Less Ads, More Data, More Tools Register for FREE

Pin to quick picksBarclays Share News (BARC)

Share Price Information for Barclays (BARC)

London Stock Exchange
Share Price is delayed by 15 minutes
Get Live Data
Share Price: 202.00
Bid: 202.40
Ask: 202.50
Change: -3.15 (-1.54%)
Spread: 0.10 (0.049%)
Open: 205.75
High: 206.10
Low: 197.68
Prev. Close: 205.15
BARC Live PriceLast checked at -

Watchlists are a member only feature

Login to your account

Alerts are a premium feature

Login to your account

Simplify, shrink, motivate, the mission for Europe's new bank bosses

Thu, 09th Jul 2015 16:16

* Barclays 4th big European bank to change CEO this year

* Shares rally each time, adding $8 bln to market values

* Credit Suisse up 8 pct, StanChart and Deutsche also rose

* New CEOs to cut costs, simplify and maybe raise cash

* Barclays needed "someone to motivate" staff -chairman

By Steve Slater and Sinead Cruise

LONDON, July 9 (Reuters) - Barclays has joinedthree other European banks in ousting its chief executive, atop-level clear out that has raised expectations of big changesat the banks and triggered an $8 billion jump in their marketvalue.

Barclays and others banks have struggled to revive theirfortunes and provide attractive returns for investors after thefinancial crisis because of tougher regulations and high costs.

Barclays Chairman John McFarlane said the new CEO, who hasnot yet been chosen, needs to cut the bank's assets moreaggressively and accelerate an increase in shareholder value. Hehas ruled out the need to raise capital.

The new leadership at Standard Chartered, CreditSuisse and Deutsche Bank could speed upthat slow pace of change since the crisis.

European banks have taken longer to recover than rivalselsewhere. The return on equity of European banks averaged lessthan 9 percent last year, compared to about 15 percent in NorthAmerica.

New CEOs Tidjane Thiam at Credit Suisse, Bill Winters atStandard Chartered and John Cryan at Deutsche Bank could tapexisting shareholders for cash to improve capital strength andprovide growth options, bankers and analysts said.

But they will only succeed if they simultaneously offer aconvincing revival plan.

"If you want investors to focus on your operationalperformance rather than your cash position, the obvious thing todo is to take whatever action necessary to put that cashposition beyond doubt or criticism," Guy de Blonay, fund managerat Jupiter Asset Management, said.

"A cash call should be received relatively well if thestrategy makes sense, and if there's a new leader at the helm,who can articulate clearly what is best for the company."

The new CEOs are meeting investors, regulators and staff toreview the businesses they have inherited and are expected tounveil plans between October and the end of the year.

EXPECTATIONS HIGH

The favourite to take over at Barclays is the bank's financedirector Tushar Morzaria, 46, who joined from JPMorgan two years ago, although the bank said it will look at externalcandidates.

McFarlane said the new Barclays boss needed to be able to"motivate the organisation."

There are expectations that Winters, Thiam and Cryan, all intheir early 50s, can balance hard pruning with more coherentgrowth plans.

Cryan faces the toughest task. He inherits a bank with oneof the lowest valuations in the global industry, partly due toworries about its over-reliance on investment banking andlow-return German retail banking.

The former investment banker spent years advising banks onstrategy before becoming finance director at UBS in2008, when he helped negotiate its rescue by the Swissgovernment. He has told staff to expect tough reforms asDeutsche is too complex.

He is expected to make cuts but also try to maintainDeutsche's position as Europe's leading investment bank. AfterDeutsche raised $11 billion in June 2014 Cryan is likely to putoff raising cash again to next year, investors and bankers said.

"The priority now will be fine-tuning the strategy,concentrating on cost cuts and disposing of non core units in amore systematic fashion," Filippo Alloatti, senior creditanalyst at Hermes Investment Management, said.

Winters also has a lot of work to do. The former co-CEO ofJPMorgan's investment bank was one of five members of aBritish government commission set up to make banks safer.

He is expected to cut the number of countries StandardChartered operates in, speed up decision-making and ramp upexisting cost-cutting plans.

His plans could include setting aside more money for loanlosses, which could be accompanied by raising $5 billion or morefrom a rights issue and cutting the dividend, bankers andanalysts said.

Thiam, former boss of Prudential, could raisebetween 6-12 billion Swiss francs ($6.3-$12.7 billion) toimprove capital ratios and amass firepower for growth, thebankers and analysts said.

Thiam is expected to slim down the investment bank and weedout weaker areas, while expanding wealth and asset management inAsia.

"The CEO has a reputation for asset gathering ... and youcould see him sell a capital raising story on the idea ofturning CS into something more than just a bank but an assetmanager as well," Alloatti said.

NEW BOSSES WARN STAFF: "BEHAVE"

Barclays' new boss is almost certain to follow Thiam,Winters and Cryan in another major challenge: addressingcompliance and standards, after problems with authorities in theUnited States and elsewhere.

In messages to staff on their first days, the CEOs pledgedto uphold standards and hold staff accountable for anywrongdoing.

Shares in Barclays, Credit Suisse and particularly StandardChartered and Deutsche Bank have lagged rivals in the past 18months, partly due to hefty fines for misconduct.

But on the days when CEO changes were announced, CreditSuisse shares rose 8 percent, Standard Chartered 5 percent,Deutsche 4 percent and Barclays 2 percent, adding a combined$7.9 billion to their market values.

Matching the expectations reflected in the share price jumpcould be the CEOs' biggest challenge. Thiam said two years agoexpectations can leave a CEO feeling like they are walking atightrope.

"If you really believe in what it is you are trying toachieve it helps you go through a journey and walk withoutlooking down," Thiam said.

($1 = 0.9480 Swiss francs)

($1 = 0.6496 pounds) (Additional reporting by Josh Franklin in Zurich and KathrinJones and Thomas Atkins in Frankfurt. Editing by Jane Merriman)

More News
13 Jun 2024 09:37

LONDON BROKER RATINGS: Jefferies raises Great Portland to 'hold'

(Alliance News) - The following London-listed shares received analyst recommendations Thursday morning and on Wednesday:

Read more
13 Jun 2024 00:00

Revolut picks new Canary Wharf HQ as it expands headcount

LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) - Britain's Revolut is to become the first tenant in a newly refurbished building in London's Canary Wharf financial district, taking on 40% more floorspace for its new headquarters as the fintech firm accelerates hiring.

Read more
12 Jun 2024 08:47

TOP NEWS: National Grid gets 90% acceptances for GBP7 billion raise

(Alliance News) - National Grid PLC on Wednesday said it received acceptances for more than 90% of the new shares on offer as part of its GBP7.00 billion rights issue.

Read more
10 Jun 2024 15:36

Britain's payments industry calls for delay and cut in scam compensation rules

LONDON, June 10 (Reuters) - Britain's payments sector on Monday called on its regulator to roll back and delay by a year tough new compensation rules due to start in October, saying that "significant changes" were needed to avoid damaging competition.

Read more
10 Jun 2024 14:07

Britain's payments industry calls for delay and cut in scam compensation rules

LONDON, June 10 (Reuters) - Britain's payments sector on Monday called on its regulator to roll back and delay by a year tough new compensation rules due to start in October, saying that "significant changes" were needed to avoid damaging competition.

Read more
31 May 2024 08:34

UK competition watchdog probes Nationwide-Virgin Money deal

May 31 (Reuters) - Britain's competition regulator said on Friday it had started a probe into Nationwide Building Society's proposed 2.9 billion pound ($3.7 billion) all-cash deal to buy Virgin Money UK.

Read more
24 May 2024 16:45

Danske Bank and Barclays chop ECB rate cut forecasts

LONDON, May 24 (Reuters) - Danske Bank said on Friday it expects the European Central Bank only to cut interest rates twice this year, not three times, while Barclays also scrapped a call for a July reduction.

Read more
24 May 2024 08:52

TOP NEWS: Coventry Building Society buys Co-Op Bank for GBP780 million

(Alliance News) - Coventry Building Society on Friday said it has agreed to buy Co-operative Bank Holdings PLC for GBP780 million in cash, in the latest shift in the UK's banking landscape.

Read more
21 May 2024 10:47

UK Libor trader Hayes given route to appeal rate-rigging conviction at Supreme Court

LONDON, May 21 (Reuters) - Tom Hayes, the first trader jailed worldwide for interest rate rigging, was on Tuesday refused permission to appeal against his conviction at the United Kingdom's Supreme Court, but was given a potential route to clear his name.

Read more
21 May 2024 10:00

LONDON BROKER RATINGS: UBS lifts Schroders; Barclays likes Wise

(Alliance News) - The following London-listed shares received analyst recommendations Tuesday morning and on Monday:

Read more
17 May 2024 21:33

IN BRIEF: Barclays intends to fully redeem EUR750 million notes

Barclays PLC - London-based bank - Intends to fully redeem all of the outstanding EUR750 million 0.75% reset notes due 2025 on June 9. The outstanding notes will be redeemed on the redemption date at a price equal to 100% of their principal amount plus accrued but unpaid interest from, and including, June 9 last year.

Read more
16 May 2024 13:05

Activists disrupt Lloyds Bank shareholder meeting

LONDON, May 16 (Reuters) - Activists disrupted Lloyds Banking Group's annual shareholder meeting in Glasgow on Thursday, protesting against the bank's alleged provision of financial services to defence firms linked to violence in the Middle East.

Read more
16 May 2024 11:16

Activists disrupt Lloyds Bank shareholder meeting

LONDON, May 16 (Reuters) -

Read more
13 May 2024 10:51

Barclays promotes Chiapparoli EMEA co-head for industrials, names new Italy CEO

MILAN, May 13 (Reuters) - British bank Barclays on Monday said it had appointed Enrico Chiapparoli as co-head of industrials for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), leaving his post as Italy chief executive to Paolo De Luca.

Read more
10 May 2024 11:17

JPMorgan still positive on UK banks despite potential rate cuts

(Sharecast News) - JPMorgan has said that dovish comments from the Bank of England this week don't alter its constructive view on UK banking stocks, even if interest rates do fall more sharply than markets are currently pricing in.

Read more

Login to your account

Don't have an account? Click here to register.

Quickpicks are a member only feature

Login to your account

Don't have an account? Click here to register.