London - Barclays became the latest European bank to post
disappointing first-quarter trading results that failed to live up to the gains
American firms reported.
The firm posted a surprise drop in fixed-income trading
revenue, in contrast with a collective 24 percent jump achieved by its five
largest American counterparts. Income from equities, the other main trading
business, also fell more than expected.
CEO Jes Staley, 60, has thrown his weight behind the
investment bank in London and New York, arguing a securities unit is a valuable
counterbalance to its more profitable retail and credit card businesses.
Capturing market share from European peers that are retreating from some
markets would help the unit boost its returns.
“We didn’t have the uptick that a number of the US banks
did,” Staley said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “We could have done a
little better on the US rates side, but we’re not going to make any judgments
on one quarter.”
The trading performance marked the first quarter under
Tim Throsby, who was poached from JPMorgan Chase & Co last year to help
turn around the investment bank. Staley has touted the need for Europe to have
a successful investment bank based in the region, as American firms have seized
share in the trading and merger advisory businesses in recent years.
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Fixed-income trading dropped 1 percent, while the
equities business fell 10 percent. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News had
expected Barclays’s fixed income revenue to rise 17 percent, while the equities
unit was forecast to slump 5 percent, according to the average of four
estimates. Trading typically accounts for about a quarter of the firm’s
revenue.
Any progress Staley has made turning around the British
lender risks being overshadowed by his attempts to unmask an anonymous
whistle-blower in violation of company policy, revealed two weeks ago when the
board reprimanded the CEO and reported him to regulators. Staley may forfeit
his entire 1.3 million-pound 2016 bonus over the scandal and could lose his job
if regulatory investigations deem him unfit to run a bank.
“The full board of the bank did its review and voted
unanimously to support me,” Staley said in the television interview.
Barclays’s pretax profit more than doubled to 1.68
billion pounds, Barclays said in a statement Friday. Five analysts surveyed by
Bloomberg had estimated pretax profit of 1.51 billion pounds. Total revenue
climbed 16 percent to 5.82 billion pounds, exceeding analysts’ 5.67
billion-pound forecast.