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LONDON (Alliance News) - Barclays PLC on Thursday said it "strongly opposes" the resolution to appoint Edward Bramson to its board as a non-executive director.
The lender's annual general meeting will take place on May 2 and Bramson will be standing for election as part of his mission to get Barclays to scale back its investment banking business.
Bramson spent GBP900 million in March last year to build a 5.5% stake in Barclays through his investment vehicle Sherborne Investors. He was previously re-buffed in an attempt to place himself on the board in December 2018.
Barclays said it recognised that it "does not yet perform at the level at which it should" but it is focused on delivering returns above its cost of equity. The bank also emphasised that "another strategic overhaul is not what Barclays needs right now".
Of Bramson, Barclays said: "His prior investments and our engagement with him suggest he would be a disruptive and uncollaborative influence on the board. He also does not possess the banking experience and skills that we are seeking to add to the board."
Barclays said its board "strongly opposes Bramson's appointment to the board of directors and unanimously recommends shareholders vote against the resolution requisitioned by Sherborne at the Barclays AGM."
Barclays Chair John McFarlane said: "One thing we do have in common with Bramson is that we are well aware that returns from this business have been below our required return level, and we are taking the necessary steps to remedy this. For the avoidance of doubt, Barclays has no strategy to commit significantly more financial resources to its [Corporate & Investment Bank]. At the peak of the crisis, the balance sheet of Barclays Capital, the company's investment banking operations at the time, was slightly more than GBP1.6 trillion. At year-end 2018, the balance sheet of Barclays International, which contains not only the CIB, but also our US retail, payments, and private banking businesses, was barely half that size at GBP862 billion. More recently, in the past year, underlying return on tangible equity has risen from 5.6% to 8.5%, demonstrating progress. Further urgent work is taking place to bring the return to required levels."
"What we do not have in common with Bramson is how this should be progressed, and we believe disruption to the proper functioning of the board is not the way forward. Instead, we should continue with the work in hand and deliver what is in the interests of our shareholders as a whole, which is higher and appropriate returns, without unnecessary distraction from our strategy."
Shares in Barclays closed up 1.6% at 163.68 pence on Thursday.
