Hanging tightly on to its investment bank in the wake of the last financial crash made Barclays an outlier among the UK lending giants. Now, in the eyes of investors, the FTSE 100 group has become even more of a pariah.
A slump in investment banking fees over the fourth quarter sent the bank’s pre-tax profits tumbling below market expectations for last year. Not surprisingly, volatility has forced corporates to shy away from deal-making and tapping the debt and equity markets for funds. Add in litigation and misconduct charges and £1.2 billion of credit impairments, and pre-tax profit slid 14 per cent to just over £7 billion.
Investors are mistrustful of the corporate and investment banking business. Even in boom times the market is reluctant
