Financial services major Barclays is to reduce its headcount by about 2,100 in investment banking and money management, as part of its cost cutting measures.The company is cutting 1,300 people from Barclays Capital, the debt-focused investment banking business, 500 from the Barclays Wealth private banking arm, and 330 in asset management business Barclays Global Investors. Overall, the cuts amount to 7 per cent of the three divisions' staff.
The Reserve Bank of India is likely to announce a "gradual" exit from its easy money stance and may resort to raising key rates to squeeze out excess liquidity from markets in its forthcoming review meeting, investment banking firm Barclays Capital says.
Agius, who served as the Barclays chairman for the past six years, would stay in his position until a succession plan is in place.
Four-time Odisha MP Pinaki Misra's wedding to firebrand TMC MP Mahua Moitra in a quiet, intimate ceremony that chose privacy and tradition over fanfare, was a reflection of his personal style.
Global rating agency Moody's said the decision to change the outlook on 'Barclays's C-/ baa2 standalone rating to negative from stable' reflects concerns over resignations of seniors and the consequent uncertainty surrounding the firm's direction, which are negative for bondholders.
The new members, Jitesh Gadhia, Marc Holtzman, Simon Hargreaves, Jason Rynbeck and Frank Hancock, would report to Barclays European Investment Banking and Debt Capital Markets' head John Winter, Barclays said in Mumbai on Tuesday. "The appointments will significantly enhance our ability to advise our clients on corporate strategy, divestitures and acquisitions with particular focus on clients in high growth markets in Asia, Central and Eastern Europe and West Asia."
'The concern that the bad bank may create a moral hazard for the system is extremely valid.'
Despite gross domestic product (GDP) growth being lower-than-expected for the July-September quarter, the six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) may not cut the policy repo rate in the review meeting scheduled for next week due to high inflation in October, according to experts. "Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation breaching the upper limit of the RBI's tolerance band in October (6.2 per cent year-on-year) is not a favourable backdrop for the MPC to commence the easing cycle, even as the growth outcome disappointed the MPC's expectations," said Shreya Sodhani, regional economist at Barclays, who expects the policy repo rate to be kept unchanged in the December meeting.
Billionaire Gautam Adani's group on Tuesday said it will prepay $130 million of debt as it looks to boost investor confidence post being targeted by a US short-seller. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, the ports company of the Adani Group, had last month floated a tender to buy back as much as $130 million of its July 2024 bonds and similar amounts in each of the next four as it looked to regain investor confidence by showing that its liquidity position is comfortable. In a stock exchange filing, APSEZ said an aggregae principal amount of $412.7 million was validly tendered.
With around 2,000 jobs on the line at its troubled investment banking unit here, Barclays is believed to have dispatched a team to recruit and train new staff in India to replace workers in both London and New York, according to The Independent.
The pay rise at Barclays Capital is expected to be backdated to June this year as the bank looks to compensate its staff following the bonus crackdown.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das had stumped the market in the previous two policies - in August and in October - first with action and then with words. In August, it was the introduction of an incremental cash reserve ratio (I-CRR) to take out excess liquidity, which took the markets by surprise. In October, there was no action. Rather, what is known as "open mouth operation", Das' comment that the central bank might conduct open market operations (OMOs) by selling bonds tempered the euphoria in the bond markets after JP Morgan's inclusion of India in its Emerging Market Bond Index.
Barclays and BNP Paribas are considering the acquisition of Lehman Brothers' investment banking and brokerage businesses in India.
Emerging market currencies including Indian rupee are likely to remain under pressure, though depreciation is expected to slow from here, Barclays said in a research report.
At a time when most foreign banks in India are looking at opening more branches, British lender Barclays has decided to close three of its nine branches in the country.
BlackRock Inc has executed a purchase agreement to acquire Barclays Global Investors, including its market leading ETF platform, iShares, from Barclays Plc, the company said. The transaction would create an independent and fully integrated asset management firm named 'BlackRock Global Investors' with combined assets under management of over $2.7 trillion, bringing together market leaders in active and index strategies.
Bouyed by Indian growth trajectories, Barclays plc on Tuesday said it would infuse $70 million in the country for a period of two years from 2006 to foray into the corporate banking business.
"The slump in activity in emerging Asia is over. We believe the region returned to positive growth of the aggregate level in the first quarter of 2009 -- driven by China and India -- and the recovery is broadening to the more open industrial economies in 2009," Barclays Capital, an investment banking arm of Barclays, said.
Barclays Plc on Tuesday said its chief executive officer Bob Diamond has resigned with immediate effect after increasing pressure to step down following global interest rate manipulation scandal.
As per the outsourcing partnership agreement, Firstsource would manage Barclays' operations center in Colorado Springs and would provide customer care and collection support to its US cardholders, Firstsource Solutions said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Vedanta Ltd on Thursday termed any talks of sale in oil-to-metals conglomerate as "untrue and baseless." This comes in the wake of news report which said that mining mogul Anil Agarwal is contemplating a stake sale in Vedanta as a last-resort option and is examining the possibility of selling less than 5 per cent of the company. According to company's spokesperson, "Any talk of stake sale in Vedanta Ltd is untrue and baseless."
Citibank on Wednesday joined the list of foreign banks that have exited retail banking business in India. Mumbai-based Axis Bank completed acquisition of Citigroup's consumer business for Rs 11,603 crore. Under the deal, Axis acquired consumer banking businesses of Citibank India, which includes credit cards, retail banking, wealth management and consumer loans.
This has been a season for corporate scandal.
Wholesale inflation fell to a 4-month low of 1.31 per cent in August due to a decline in prices of vegetables and fuel, even though onion and potato prices spiked, according to official data released on Tuesday. Wholesale price index-based inflation fell for the second straight month in August after it hit a high of 3.43 per cent in May. Inflation in July was 2.04 per cent. In August last year, WPI inflation was (-) 0.46 per cent.
Naguib Kheraj, the Indian origin group finance director of Barclays Bank, has been declared winner of Telegraph Business Awards 2004.
The Indian economy is likely to benefit from tailwinds from both monetary and fiscal policy in the coming month
In its report 'Global Top Picks', Barclays expects the current bull market in global equities to continue, generating a total return of 9 per cent in 2015.
It believes that RBI will continue with liquidity infusion through CRR cuts and open market operations. Rate cut may happen only in January
Barclays Finance, the non-banking finance arm of Barclays Corporate in India, plans to close the majority of its branches here, as part of the lender's plan to scale down retail operations in the country.
On India strategy, Barclay said it would continue to grow the business in the same way as it has been growing in the last 5 years.
Barclays Plc, UK's third-largest bank by assets, plans to enter the emerging credit card market in India.
The Adani family, led by Chairman Gautam Adani, is the most valued first-generation family business at Rs 15.44 trillion.
British bank Barclays Plc could jump into the league of top three foreign banks in India from 13 at present if it succeeds in merging its Dutch rival ABN Amro with itself in a deal that could create a combined entity worth $160 billion.
The recent depreciation of the rupee along with sharp fall in the country's foreign exchange (FX) reserves has sparked a debate whether stability of the exchange rate is necessary and desirable. The rupee was one of the least volatile currencies among peers for almost two years before the current downward pressure started in September after the US Federal Reserve lowered interest rate.
This comes within two months of China announcing an investment of $3 billion from its trillion-dollar forex kitty for a 10 per cent stake in the US-based global private equity giant Blackstone.
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Steps announced by new RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan could attract $10 billion of forex inflows in the next three months and this could be a material near-term positive for the rupee, which has lost 20 per cent since January, the London-based banking and financial services company said.
Citi Bank on Wednesday joined the list of foreign banks that have exited the retail banking business in India as the US-based banking giant announced selling its consumer banking portfolio to Axis Bank for an estimated Rs 12,325 crore. Global banking majors such as ANZ Grindlays, RBS, Commonwealth Bank of Australia have scaled down their operations in India. In a mega-deal announcement on Wednesday, Axis Bank and Citibank said their boards have approved acquisition of Citibank's consumer businesses in India by Axis Bank.
Stating that the current economic scenario is similar to 1991-92 crisis, foreign brokerage Barclays said credit growth of banks will slow down to 10-11 percent levels.
The average wholesale price inflation for FY14 will come at 5.3 per cent, while the consumer price inflation will average under 9 per cent, which would be a five-year low, the brokerage said.
The British banking major would pay penalties of 290 million pounds as part of settlement agreement with the UK's Financial Services Authority and the US Department of Justice.
