“Our universal banking model provides diversification by business line, product, geography and funding source, and has again been a source of strength in volatile financial markets,” CEO says.
“I am pleased with the progress made across barclays in the first half. We have performed well on our journey to a targeted 13 per cent return on equity by 2013 and have made specific progress against our execution priorities of capital strength, returns on equity, income growth and citizenship.” That was how Bob Diamond, the CEO of Barclays, put a positive spin on the bank’s H1 results, despite the fact that profits were down by a third.
“Our universal banking model provides diversification by business line, product, geography and funding source, and has again been a source of strength in volatile financial markets,” he added.
The impairment charge of £1,828 million ($2,975 million) was 41 per cent lower, while net operating income rose by six per cent and adjusted return on average shareholders’ equity improved to 9.1 per cent.
“We set out at our recent investor seminar our plans to deliver 13 per cent return on equity by 2013. The results we are reporting … demonstrate the steady progress we are making on delivering against that goal, despite economic and regulatory uncertainties, by focusing on our core execution priorities of capital, returns, income growth and citizenship,” Diamond said.
The bank’s core tier 1 ratio strengthened to 11 per cent, from 10.8 per cent at the end of 2010 and the adjusted gross leverage was 20x, while the bank’s liquidity pool of £145 billion ($236 billion) was lower than the £154 billion it had at the end of December 2010.
The bank is also reported to be getting rid of 1400 staff in the second half of 2011, on top of the 1400 that have already been cut this year. It was also reported in April 2011 that the bank was offering redundancies to 120-odd staff at its Dubai headquarters, or the offer of a move to the HQ in Johannesburg in South Africa. H1 income from the Africa and Middle East segment for the bank was up by 16 per cent.
There hasn’t been much news about the bank’s US ambitions recently, but given that HSBC recently announced the sale of some of its business in New York and the continuing uncertainty of the health of the US economy, will Barclays decide to concentrate on emerging markets in Asia instead?
“I am pleased with the progress made across barclays in the first half. We have performed well on our journey to a targeted 13 per cent return on equity by 2013 and have made specific progress against our execution priorities of capital strength, returns on equity, income growth and citizenship.” That was how Bob Diamond, the CEO of Barclays, put a positive spin on the bank’s H1 results, despite the fact that profits were down by a third.
“Our universal banking model provides diversification by business line, product, geography and funding source, and has again been a source of strength in volatile financial markets,” he added.
The impairment charge of £1,828 million ($2,975 million) was 41 per cent lower, while net operating income rose by six per cent and adjusted return on average shareholders’ equity improved to 9.1 per cent.
“We set out at our recent investor seminar our plans to deliver 13 per cent return on equity by 2013. The results we are reporting … demonstrate the steady progress we are making on delivering against that goal, despite economic and regulatory uncertainties, by focusing on our core execution priorities of capital, returns, income growth and citizenship,” Diamond said.
The bank’s core tier 1 ratio strengthened to 11 per cent, from 10.8 per cent at the end of 2010 and the adjusted gross leverage was 20x, while the bank’s liquidity pool of £145 billion ($236 billion) was lower than the £154 billion it had at the end of December 2010.
The bank is also reported to be getting rid of 1400 staff in the second half of 2011, on top of the 1400 that have already been cut this year. It was also reported in April 2011 that the bank was offering redundancies to 120-odd staff at its Dubai headquarters, or the offer of a move to the HQ in Johannesburg in South Africa. H1 income from the Africa and Middle East segment for the bank was up by 16 per cent.
There hasn’t been much news about the bank’s US ambitions recently, but given that HSBC recently announced the sale of some of its business in New York and the continuing uncertainty of the health of the US economy, will Barclays decide to concentrate on emerging markets in Asia instead?