Barclays may undertake acquisitions to accelerate split of retail arm

Barclays may acquire another bank as part of its plans to ringfence its retail operations, while setting up its investment bank as a standalone unit.

The lender needs to study that option because it has only one banking license in the UK, although it might also opt to apply for an additional one, according to the Financial Times.

However, a purchase would speed up the entire process.

Barclays is planning to bundle its investment banking unit together with other operations such as its Barclaycard credit card division, its African subsidiary and the lion’s share of its corporate finance business in a bid to reduce the perceived riskiness of that business, the report added.

HSBC and RBS on the other hand are looking to place as many of their assets as possible within the ringfence.
As well, Barclays was said to be worried about how to finance its large investment bank.

“We are looking at how to get the right capital ratios to support the investment bank outside the ringfenced bank,” McFarlane told the FT.

The above comes after the newly named chairman and acting chief executive, John McFarlane, told staff he is targeting a doubling of the share price over the next three to four years.

As of 11:41 shares in Barclays were 2.16% higher at 273.86p, giving the bank a market capitalisation of £44.96bn.