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Tag: barclays

  • $1.2b forex fine on Citigroup, Barclays may hurt correspondent banks

    Barclays, Citigroup, JP Morgan, MUFG and Royal Bank of Scotland were yesterday fined 1.07 billion Euros (about $1.2 billion) by the European Union for rigging the multi-trillion dollar foreign exchange market.

    All the five banks have correspondent banking relationship with local banks in Nigeria.

    Speaking on the fines, the President, Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Aminu Gwadabe, said the negative impact of the fines on the banks will also affect financial institutions that have correspondence banking relationship with them.

    “Yes, there are implications as all the indicted banks represent correspondence banking agents of many Nigerian banks that rely on them for the confirmation of their trade obligations abroad. Any wrong perception of the indicted banks will directly or indirectly affect our local banks’ positions,” Gwadabe said.

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has set new rules  for banks planning to establish correspondent banking relationships with foreign lenders.

    The apex bank, in the Anti-Money Laundering/ Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Policy and Procedure Manual insists that it will guard against establishing correspondent banking relationships with high risk foreign banks, such as shell banks, with correspondent banks that have historically allowed their institutions to be used for Money Laundering / Financing Terrorism (ML/FT).

    The European Commission said the banks formed two cartels to manipulate the spot foreign exchange market for 11 currencies, including the dollar, the euro and the pound.

    “These cartel decisions send a clear message that the Commission will not tolerate collusive behaviour in any sector of the financial markets,” European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

    The EU competition enforcer said most of the traders knew one another on a personal basis and set up chartrooms with names, such as “Essex Express ‘n the Jimmy”, because all of them, except “James”, lived in Essex and met on their train commute to London.

     

  • World’s first ATM marks 50th ‘birthday’

    World’s first ATM marks 50th ‘birthday’

    The world’s first Automated Teller Machine (ATM), a technology which brought transformation in the way people obtained and used cash, on Tuesday  clocked 50 years.

    According to the Metro News, the world’s first ATM was unveiled by Barclays at its Enfield branch in North London on June 27 1967.

    As a tribute to the golden anniversary, Barclays transformed the ATM at its Enfield branch into gold, added a commemorative plaque and placed a red carpet in front for its users.

    The original ATM was the brainchild of Scottish inventor Shepherd-Barron, and was commissioned by Barclays to create six cash dispensers, the first of which was installed at Enfield.

    English actor Reg Varney, who starred in the British TV comedy show “On The Buses”, was the first person to withdraw cash from the new machine.

    The ATM was designed to transform people’s ability to manage their finances by giving customers access to cash outside bank branch opening hours.

    Despite the rise in other new technologies such as online and mobile banking, the ATM remains popular 50 years on.

    Now there are an estimated three million cash machines across the globe with some 70,000 cash machines in the UK alone which dispensed 175 billion pounds in 2016.

    This month also marked 30 years since Barclays introduced the debit card to the UK, on June 3 1987.

  • Barclays cuts 150 investment bank jobs

    Barclays Plc (BARC.L) is cutting about 150 staff from its investment bank as part of the British bank’s attempt to cut costs and improve profitability in the business, a person familiar with the matter said.

    Affected staff, which included managing directors, were said  this last  week, the source said.

    Barclays last year said it would cut about 7,000 investment banking staff by the end of 2016. It cut about 2,500 in 2014 and expects to cut a similar amount this year and next, and this week’s redundancies are part of that.

    It was not clear in what areas most of the cuts would be.

    New chairman John McFarlane  said the investment bank remained a core part of the bank and he was pleased with an improvement in its return on equity this year, but he said it would continue to scale back in areas where it is not strong.

    Analysts expect more cuts in trading activities to allow capital to be diverted to higher-returning advisory and underwriting activities.

  • Barclays sees headwinds for South African bonds as losses mount

    South African bonds, enduring the longest monthly losing streak in two years, have some way to fall before enticing buyers, according to Barclays Plc.

    The debt lost 0.9 percent in May, the fourth straight month of declines, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes. Yields on benchmark South African securities have climbed 119 basis points to 8.23 percent since hitting a 20-month low in January, and may have to rise as high as 8.5 percent to compensate investors for the risks, said Barclays strategist Michael Keenan.

    New taxes on gasoline, government wage increases above the inflation rate, a weak rand and the prospect of higher electricity tariffs are fueling inflation in South Africa at a time when the Federal Reserve is preparing to raise borrowing costs, drawing money to dollar assets. A looming credit rating review by Fitch Ratings and a hawkish central bank are adding to the headwinds for South African debt.

    “I wouldn’t be rushing out and buying bonds,” Keenan said by phone from Johannesburg on May 28. “Bonds remain vulnerable to mounting domestic and U.S. policy rate-hike fears.”

    While the central bank has kept its benchmark repurchase rate unchanged at 5.75 per cent since July to support the economy, rising gasoline, electricity and food costs are putting pressure on prices. An application by Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. to raise electricity tariffs by as much as 25 percent could add 0.5 percentage points to inflation over the next year, according to central bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago.

    Inflation jumped to 4.5 percent in April and the central bank forecasts it will peak at 6.8 percent in the first quarter of next year, also spurred by a weak rand that’s boosting import costs and rising food prices. The five-year break-even rate, which measures expectations for consumer-price growth, climbed 25 basis points in May to 6.57 percent, the highest since July.

    Forward-rate agreements starting in six months, used to speculate on borrowing costs, show investors expect 62 basis points of interest rate increases this year, 22 basis points more than at the start of May.

    “I would really look for serious pull-backs to start adding again,” Abri du Plessis, a portfolio manager at Cape Town-based Gryphon Asset Management Ltd., which oversees the equivalent of about $330 million, said by phone on May 28. “This pullback is only maybe the beginning. I can see it going to 8.50 on the bond side.”

    Foreign-investor purchases of South African bonds dwindled to 128 million rand ($10 million) in May from 15.2 billion rand in April as the Fed moves closer raising interest rates. Economists forecast the Federal Reserve will increase borrowing costs in September.

  • Barclays Africa grows earnings by 14%

    Barclays Africa grows earnings by 14%

    Barclays Africa Group reported a 14 per cent rise in full-year earnings partly due to sharp fall in bad debt charges that showed the bank’s tighter lending policy is starting to pay off.Reuters said the African subsidiary of Britain’s Barclays reduced its exposure to personal lending over the past three years and increased bad debt provisions in response to a downturn in the country’s economy after the financial crisis.”There is no denying that our business has been through a tough period,” Chief Executive Maria Ramos said.The bank, the first of South Africa’s main four banks to publish earnings this season, reported a 21 percent drop in bad debt charges. Barclays Africa is remaining cautious even though South Africa’s economy is showing signs of picking up and could grow by as much as 2.8 percent this year, according to the central bank, from an estimated 1.9 per cent in 2013.Unemployment has fallen and the jobless rate slowed to 24.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, the lowest in seven quarters. Manufacturing is also starting to look up with output rising 2.5 percent year-on-year in volume terms in December, compared with the 1.4 percent economists polled by Reuters had expected.Chief financial officer David Hodnett said Barclays expected slow loan growth in South Africa, its biggest market, in 2014. “With South Africa interest rates likely to rise further and consumers under pressure, we expect mid single digit loan growth in South Africa this year.”

  • Nimi Akinkugbe’s passion

    Nimi Akinkugbe’s passion

    NIMI Akinkugbe is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bestman Games Limited. In 2012, her company launched the City of Lagos edition of monopoly, the first African city edition of Hasbro’s world-famous board game.

    Before this, she enjoyed a successful banking career spanning 21 years, first at Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc where she rose to the position of General Manager and Head, Private Banking and Director of Stanbic IBTC Asset Management Limited. She subsequently spent two years at Barclays Bank as Regional Director (West Africa) for the Wealth & Investment Management Division and Chief Country Officer for Nigeria.

    But one thing Nimi is passionate about, if not working, is tending her orchid garden.

  • Barclays joins UBS in pursuit of African millionaires

    Barclays joins UBS in pursuit of African millionaires

    Barclays Plc (BARC) is joining Citigroup Inc. (C) and UBS AG (UBSN) in targeting millionaire clients in Africa as the continent’s fastest-growing economies swell a rich list topped by billionaires Aliko Dangote and Johann Rupert.

    Barclays Africa Group Ltd., in which the London-based bank will hold a 62.3 percent stake, is seeking to build on experience managing wealth in South Africa after acquiring eight African operations previously run by its parent. That expansion depends on regulators in countries including Kenya, Ghana and Mauritius, said Chief Executive Officer Maria Ramos.

    Employees pass signage for Barclays Plc outside the headquarters of Absa Group Ltd. in Johannesburg, South Africa. Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, is benefiting from the continent’s economic growth, adding $6.7 billion to his wealth this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. “It’s potentially a very exciting opportunity,” Ramos said in an interview in Johannesburg on July 30.

    The number of Africans with at least $1 million of investable assets climbed 9.9 percent to 140,000 in 2012, according to a report published on June 18 by Cap Gemini SA (CAP) and Royal Bank of Canada. That was the fastest rate of increase outside North America as the economies of countries such as Nigeria and Ghana grew at more than 5 percent last year.

    “It’s a great time for private banking, wealth management and asset management in Africa,” Mark Mobius, who oversees $53 billion as executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, said in an interview on June 28.

    About 42 percent of the millionaires in Africa and the Middle East are prioritizing wealth accumulation, a higher proportion than in North America, Europe or Asia, the Cap Gemini report showed.

    UBS, the world’s biggest wealth manager, said in May it will expand its operations in Africa as economic growth rates boost demand. The industries contributing most to wealth creation on the continent include the resources, telecommunications and consumer industries, according to the Zurich-based bank. Africa’s increasing wealth presents an opportunity, said Donna Oosthuyse, the head of Citigroup in South Africa.

    “In our private bank we have officers who are dedicated to Africa and in our international personal bank,” she said on July 25. “Just as we see international global companies needing international capabilities, so do individuals.”

    Dangote, Africa’s richest man, is benefiting from the continent’s economic growth, adding $6.7 billion to his wealth this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That lifted the Nigerian, who owns the continent’s biggest cement producer, to 31st on a global rich list with an estimated net worth of $21.3 billion, eclipsing the $18 billion of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.

    Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to accelerate to 5.9 percent in 2014 from 5.1 percent this year, the Washington-based International Monetary Fund said on July 9.

    “The growth means pools of savings are being created across the continent in counties like Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana,” said Thabo Khojane, managing director of Investec Asset Management in Cape Town. “I don’t think Africa’s problems are solved, but the trend is undoubtedly in the right direction. I’m an African bull.”

    Local and international wealth managers are catching on to that potential as they seek to bolster earnings that are being squeezed by tougher regulatory requirements, said Patrice Rassou, head of research at Sanlam Investment Management in Cape Town.

    “South African banks and global banks have been bad in general in the wealth management market,” Rassou said in an interview. “The one who could be a game changer is Barclays Africa — it has the product set. The demand is there.”

     

    Continental Reach

    The merger of Barclays’s assets with what was Absa Group Ltd. (ASA) in South Africa gives Barclays Africa 1,200 branches across the continent, 45,000 staff, more than 10,000 ATMs and increased access to the continent’s estimated 128 million consumer households, Ramos said in a presentation in Johannesburg today. Using Barclays’s technology instead of developing new systems means products, including those for wealth management, can be rolled out “at low cost,” she said.

    Barclays Africa will look at developing a presence in Nigeria, the region’s second-biggest economy, Chief Financial Officer David Hodnett said in an interview on July 30. The IMF is forecasting economic growth of 7.2 percent in Nigeria this year.

    Barclays Africa, on its first day of trading under its new name in Johannesburg, closed 1 percent higher at 142.45 rand. In London, Barclays dropped 2 percent to 285.25 pence by 4:18 p.m., paring this year’s gain to 8.7 percent.