Financial Times: Barclays to speed up investment bank cuts
16 October 2015
Barclays plans to accelerate the shrinkage of its investment bank by exiting trading operations in continental Europe, Asia and Latin America in a plan supported by incoming chief executive Jes Staley.
Mr Staley, the former head of JPMorgan Chase’s investment bank, is expected to take over early next year, though he is still awaiting regulatory approval.
Some investors and politicians have interpreted the veteran American financier’s impending arrival as a sign that Barclays is preparing a bullish strategic shift to rebuild its investment bank.
However, people familiar with the bank’s strategy said the 58-year-old had already backed the plan to refocus Barclays’ trading operations on its core US and UK markets, with smaller presences in South Africa, Japan and one other Asian centre.
News of Mr Staley’s planned arrival from hedge fund BlueMountain Capital has lifted spirits in Barclays’ US investment bank, which was built on the acquisition of Lehman Brothers’ American operation but which has suffered several big name defections in recent years.
Meanwhile, Barclays has been approached with an offer for its Italian retail banking network by Mediobanca, the Milan-based investment bank.
© Financial Times
