Barclays PLC has laid off 250 across various departments in India as it shifts its focus to wealthy clients from the mass market. after the job cuts, BCS employs more than 5,000 people in India through its retail, corporate and invesmtne banking and wealth businesses.
Barclays PCS was sued in Singapore for failing to pay Pagoda Partners Pte S$365,000 after BCS hired Timothy Last form Merrill Lynch on the recruitment firm's recommendation.
Barclays successfully completed its acquisition of rival Citibank's Italian credit card business, giving it control of the division's 197,000 credit card accounts and €234m of assets.
Barclays was sued for the return of an alleged secret $5 billion profit on purchase of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc's brokerage. The firm says that it owes nothing and wants to be paid the $3 billion it was promised earlier. In 2008, Barclays paid $45 billion for securities valued at $49.7 billion to acquire Lehman Brothers Holding's brokerage. The plaintiff's of the case argue that the deal was too good for Barclays and asks the court to rewrite the terms of the sale.
Barclays President Bob Diamond sold 1.8 million shares of Barclays stock for GBP5 million, the first time he reduced his stake in the company since joining the bank in 1996. He retains 8.3 million shares worth GBP22.9 million.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India has barred Barclays PLC from issuing and trading in offshore derivative instruments with immediate effect. The SEBI said it found the Company to be in breach of disclosure rules that guide offshore derivative activity of foreign institutional investors or FIIs in India.
Barclay's re-convinced shareholders it does not need additional infusions of capital
Barclays, one of the U.K.'s largest banks, refused to accept the U.K.'s 37 billion pound bailout ($55 billion) of the banks in October. Well, BCS is now low on capital, and is sinking fast. In mid-January, the company announced plans to axe 4,200 jobs to cut costs.
The British government met with the UK's top banks to discuss recapitalization. The BBC reported RBS, Lloyds TSB, and Barclays were seeking $26 billion each to help them get through the financial crisis.
Barclays announced that it was selling its UK life insurance business to Swiss Re for £753 million ($1.48 billion).
On Saturday, June 21 (Tokyo time), it was reported that Barclays would be receiving 100 billion yen ($925 million) from Japanese firm Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. Barclays will create new shares, which will give Sumitomo Mitsui a minority stake in the British bank. The two firms will also begin to combine their business efforts in certain markets, like their asset management business in India. (1)
Barclays announced on Monday, June 16, that existing shareholders may be able to buy shares of the company in a private offering to shore up capital. Before, it was rumored that Barclays would only sell shares to sovereign wealth funds, which would dilute existing shareholders' value. Additionally, the firm said that its pre-tax profit in May 2008 was "well ahead" of its pre-tax profit in the same month in 2007.[1]
On June 9, 2008, two anonymous sources stated that Barclays may sell additional shares of itself to shore up capital after taking significant write-downs on risky assets. According to analysts at Lehman Brothers and Citigroup, Barclays needs to raise at least 7 billion pounds ($13.8 billion) to strengthen its balance sheet.[1]
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An analyst with Goldman Sachs lowered his target price for Barclays on Friday, November 16. Despite the smaller-than-expected write-down announced on November 15, the Goldman analyst reiterated the potential impact of continued turmoil in the U.S. housing market and global markets on Barclays future performance.
Following speculation of large write-downs on Friday, November 9, Barclays denied these rumors and promised to announce updated results on Thursday, November 15; this helped the company's stock regain the previous week's losses. In the release, Barclays announced combined write-downs of $2.7bn (1.3bn pounds) for both the third quarter and October. This was much less than expected, but the firm's stock price fell again amid fears about future growth prospects.
On Friday, November 9, speculation about large write-downs sent shares of Barclays down sharply. Some reports estimated Barclays write-downs at up to $10 billion. Additionally, rumors circulated that top management at Barclays would be stepping down, as has happened at Merrill Lynch and Citigroup. Barclays denied both of these rumors.
Blackstone Group will purchase Barclays stake in India-based call center operator Intelenet at close to $200 million. Intelenet was originally intended to help Barclays set up its own India-based administration unit.
Due to a lagging share price of its stock, Dutch bank ABN Amro is under pressure from shareholding hedge funds to accept bits for mergers and acquisition. Barclays has placed an informal inquiry for acquisition.
In an entirely cash transaction, Barclays will acquire Regions Financial Corporation’s non-prime mortgage origination business, EquiFirst. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2007 for about $225 million.
