Barclays’ new executive chairman John McFarlane has wasted no time in stamping his ‘Mac the Knife’ credentials on the bank with plans for faster cuts in staff and branches.
Scot Mr McFarlane is targeting a reduction in the bank’s cost-income ratio from 70per cent in the first half to mid-50s, which will mean adding to the 19,000 job losses already due by next year. He has also made it clear the bank will not need to raise new capital.
The investment bank where 7000 jobs are due to go has so far taken the brunt, suggesting limited potential impact on Barclays’ operations in Scotland. It employs around 3000, mainly in Glasgow, with around 1500 in support roles for wealth and investment management, private banking, and investment banking, and up to 600 in a shared services centre.
Mr McFarlane earned his reputation in his first big chairmanship at Aviva, where he also took on the executive chairman role for eight months, and was 18 months into driving a turnround strategy FirstGroup when he was forced to stand down as chairman this month to focus on Barclays.
Barclays shares rose two per cent as investors welcomed an above-expected adjusted pre-tax profit of £1.85billion, up 12 per cent from a year ago. Analysts attributed the gain to its capital generation, lower losses from bad loans, and a solid performance by both the investment bank and the credit card business in the second quarter.
“We need to accelerate the execution of the strategy," Mr McFarlane said, pinpointing a need to speed up the growth in earnings, return on equity, and capital generation, as well as to cut out bureaucracy.
“Barclays ... remains far too hierarchical, bureaucratic and group-centric to deliver the required outcomes. I therefore want to see much more streamlined processes," he said.
He said the bank would maintain its dividend at 6.5p so it could build capital.
Barclays' core capital rose to 11.1 percent at the end of June from 10.3 percent at the end of 2014, and the bank said it had no need for any fundraising, which some analysts had urged.
Tushar Morzaria, the finance director and internal candidate for the chief executive role, said the bank “doesn't expect to be doing external capital raises”.
The investment bank's return on equity improved to 10.2 percent in the first six months of this year, from 5.7 percent a year ago, and Mr Morzaria said this reflected changes made to reshape it in the past year,and no big strategic shift was on the cards.
"It (will be) a continuation of that strategy, refining it and looking for areas of further improvement," he said.
The chairman said he plans to reduce unwanted assets from £57bn to £20bn by the end of 2017. These include derivatives products and its retail operations in Portugal and Italy, which the bank is trying to sell.
Barclays set aside another £850m for customer compensation including £600m for mis-sold PPI, taking its total bill to £6bn. But the hit was largely offset by a £496m court-related settlement in relation to former Lehman Brothers assets.
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