Page 64 - Barclays Bank (B)

diversified business. Diversification is the safest
place to be as a bank.” Staley (10)

Barclays reduced its head count by 56,000, sold 22

businesses around the world and closed its retail banking

business across Africa and continental Europe, Staley

said.

So now:

“we can turn our full attention” to improving

shareholder returns. Returns on tangible equity will

be above 10 per cent by 2020.” Staley (10)

Moreover, Barclays' non-core risk-weighted assets (RWAs)

in 2018 were only £27bn, having been over £75bn at the

end of 2014 bn and 46.6bn by the end of 2015. (7)

Nevertheless, of greatest concern to investors was the

investment bank division’s anaemic profitability. It
returned 1.1 percent on equity in 2017, a tenth the level

at the U.K. retail unit and far below the 16.7 percent
return generated by the bank’s international credit card

business.

However, strategy seemed to be bearing fruit as the bank

earned fees of $352m in the year 2016/2017 from M&A

and capital markets, giving it a 9.1 per cent market share,

comfortably ahead of JPMorgan’s 7.8 per cent share and

Goldman Sachs’ 6.6 per cent. In 2016, Barclays had a