Barclays Bank make £ 11 600 000 000 profit.

[Gritt23]

Tremendous performance from Barclays, and they can be rightfully very proud of themselves.

 

[Easy 10]

Bonus culture will always exist, like it or not.

Companies have to pay the best to get the best people to work for them and saying they just 'push numbers around' is a far too simplistic view. If that was the case, why don't they juts train up a load of ASBOS to do it and get them off the street. Companies would rather not pay bonuses, but they have to to attract the best people.

The key thing is, is for there to be a sensible bonus structure, like Barclays are doing at the moment. Deference over a number of years with a claw back clause is becoming more and more prevalent.

Bonus culture will always exist because it has been allowed to develop into exactly that - a "culture". Its a gimmie now, its the norm, just the way it is in banking. And the justification is always that they need to 'attract the best people'. Well for them actually being 'the best people', they certainly did a fabulous job in practically bankrupting the global economy. Brilliant job in fact. Clever people - clever at feathering their own nests at least, I suppose.

Does a car salesman expect to receive his entire annual salary x2 on bonus day ? Its totally disproportionate. If their basic salaries are so massively, gargantually far below the market rate of what it should be that their bonus payout needs to practically double their salary on bonus day, then bump up the basic salary a bit and keep a tighter reign on these vast lump sums that are bestowed on these executives.

 

[Ex-Staffs Gull]

Absolute crap, they are making large scale UK redundancies and replacing them with off-shore workers, great for the fecking Indian economy.

 

[hitony]

PM me and I will give you a little idea of what is been like in the last 2 years so as not to bore anyone else.

I think many individuals have had it hard since the recession kicked in, i got made redundant 18 months ago and have not recovered even yet, we are still tottering on the brink of losing our home.

But I do bank with Barclays (well when Im working !! ) and I am pleased they have done well, in my opinion they have always been quite a stable bank.

And like others, i do think there president has been wise not to take any bonus etc......not that he will need it !

 

[hitony]

Absolute crap, they are making large scale UK redundancies and replacing them with off-shore workers, great for the fecking Indian economy.

If that is the case, and i have to admit, have not a clue if it is or not, it will be there downfall as every other major company that has tried that has regretted it.

It may be a cheaper option, but it clearly will not work.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

I appreciate that but I did not initiate it by making a snide comment about my circumstances. It was a debate about the banking system and mortgages are part of that system.

 

[seagullwedgee]

Spiel, like most people in the UK you are bashing the banks for the simple reason that you do not undertand the difference between retail and investment banking.

their retail business, personal and small business customers, is as well run as any bank in the world, their lending decisions are sound, their market shares are stable, and the people who work in their little shops (which acounts for 90%+ of their staffing) get very little or no bonus at all.

Please stop trying to make a scene about banking, when all that has happened is that some investment bankers have made some good corporate deals to deliver monstrous profit, which has not cost you, me or anyone else on here a single penny, or a mortgage, or a small busines loan. It's got nothing to do with it whatsoever, which is why all western governments are proposing legislation to split retail and investment banking arms, because they have nothing whatsoever to do with how each element is funded, and how it sets it targets and margins.

So please have a sit down, recognise you're in a one dimensional business that shrunk worldwide, and either go and find new revenue streams, or do something else.

Thank you and goodnight.

 

[Common as Mook]

Spiel, like most people in the UK you are bashing the banks for the simple reason that you do not undertand the difference between retail and investment banking.

their retail business, personal and small business customers, is as well run as any bank in the world, their lending decisions are sound, their market shares are stable, and the people who work in their little shops (which acounts for 90%+ of their staffing) get very little or no bonus at all.

Please stop trying to make a scene about banking, when all that has happened is that some investment bankers have made some good corporate deals to deliver monstrous profit, which has not cost you, me or anyone else on here a single penny, or a mortgage, or a small busines loan. It's got nothing to do with it whatsoever, which is why all western governments are proposing legislation to split retail and investment banking arms, because they have nothing whatsoever to do with how each element is funded, and how it sets it targets and margins.

So please have a sit down, recognise you're in a one dimensional business that shrunk worldwide, and either go and find new revenue streams, or do something else.

Thank you and goodnight.

Spot. On.

 

[jakarta]

Before we all start exploding with excitement what they have done is like shooting ducks in a barrel. With no competition in the system they are cherry picking and finance is now a luxury extended to cast iron a! certainities. Them not lending money to small businessess has allowed thousands of sound businesses to go to the wall and not lending and cherry picking mortgages at 75% and under has meant millions of people cannot buy and move anymore. they have basically hoarded all the cash themselevs and distributed a quarter of it in bonuses.

Can concur that Barclays are not interested in helping small businesses - I have a hilarious letter from them offering me an overdraft facility for my company when I was experiencing cashflow issues with offshore work i.e. 1 big payment every 6-8 weeks as opposed to onshore where I do much smaller projects but get reasonably frequent payments coming in.

How does an overdraft interest rate of 16.99% above Bank Rate sound? The facility personally guaranteed by me not the compnay and the whole lot subject to being pulled at a moments notice, plus setup and quarterly charges if I used the facility or not.

As a consequence Barclays haven't made any of their squillions from me as I have gone to Alliance & Leicester (free business banking for life)

 

[Common as Mook]

Bonus culture will always exist because it has been allowed to develop into exactly that - a "culture". Its a gimmie now, its the norm, just the way it is in banking. And the justification is always that they need to 'attract the best people'. Well for them actually being 'the best people', they certainly did a fabulous job in practically bankrupting the global economy. Brilliant job in fact. Clever people - clever at feathering their own nests at least, I suppose.

Does a car salesman expect to receive his entire annual salary x2 on bonus day ? Its totally disproportionate. If their basic salaries are so massively, gargantually far below the market rate of what it should be that their bonus payout needs to practically double their salary on bonus day, then bump up the basic salary a bit and keep a tighter reign on these vast lump sums that are bestowed on these executives.

See seagullwedgee's post. There is vast difference between Investment bankers and Commercial/retail bankers.

They are not car salesmen. A lot of these guys are in fact incredibly bright people who have degrees and qualifications coming out of their arses. It's a glorified commission scheme and sometimes it may be disproportionate, but their seems to be a fashionable myth that ALL bankers get this.

The banks would prefer not to pay bonuses, believe me.

 

[beorhthelm]

On average, 22,000 Barclays executives are getting a salary of £100k, plus a £91k bonus on top. Why should someone be able to almost DOUBLE their earnings with a lump-sum annual bonus ? If I do well at my job, I'd be happy if they chucked me 5%. Why should bankers expect to get 80%-90% on top of their salaries ? They're not running countries here, they're just pushing numbers around.

thats what banking pays. pushing number around makes an awful lot of money, they get a bonus based on the profit made. simples. should have gone in to banking eh?

actually its a little deeper than that, historically times weren't always great, a combination of pressure to hit targets and fluctuating markets meant most brokers and traders (who get the juicy bonuses rather than the admin/counter staff) were only around a few years. bad deal, too much stress and they'd be out. bit like footballers, it could all end this year. thats not a defence, just background. in recent times, the good tiem have rolled on, but i think you'll find most bankers take a few bonuses and jump while ahead.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Spiel, like most people in the UK you are bashing the banks for the simple reason that you do not undertand the difference between retail and investment banking.

their retail business, personal and small business customers, is as well run as any bank in the world, their lending decisions are sound, their market shares are stable, and the people who work in their little shops (which acounts for 90%+ of their staffing) get very little or no bonus at all.

Please stop trying to make a scene about banking, when all that has happened is that some investment bankers have made some good corporate deals to deliver monstrous profit, which has not cost you, me or anyone else on here a single penny, or a mortgage, or a small busines loan. It's got nothing to do with it whatsoever, which is why all western governments are proposing legislation to split retail and investment banking arms, because they have nothing whatsoever to do with how each element is funded, and how it sets it targets and margins.

So please have a sit down, recognise you're in a one dimensional business that shrunk worldwide, and either go and find new revenue streams, or do something else.

Thank you and goodnight.

Good post

 

[Easy 10]

See seagullwedgee's post. There is vast difference between Investment bankers and Commercial/retail bankers.

They are not car salesmen. A lot of these guys are in fact incredibly bright people who have degrees and qualifications coming out of their arses. It's a glorified commission scheme and sometimes it may be disproportionate, but their seems to be a fashionable myth that ALL bankers get this.

The banks would prefer not to pay bonuses, believe me.

thats what banking pays. pushing number around makes an awful lot of money, they get a bonus based on the profit made. simples. should have gone in to banking eh?

actually its a little deeper than that, historically times weren't always great, a combination of pressure to hit targets and fluctuating markets meant most brokers and traders (who get the juicy bonuses rather than the admin/counter staff) were only around a few years. bad deal, too much stress and they'd be out. bit like footballers, it could all end this year. thats not a defence, just background. in recent times, the good tiem have rolled on, but i think you'll find most bankers take a few bonuses and jump while ahead.

I appreciate there is a difference between the corporate arm and the retail banking divisions, I'm not having a pop at the high street branches. And I don't doubt that the bankers who receive these bonuses are intelligent, driven people who work very hard. Its just the sheer mindboggling scale of the bonuses, particularly at the top end (executive) levels which seems so obscene. Most people seem to work and get by on a basic salary, and receive a bonus as a 'thanks', not as an entire basis for renumeration to all but double your basic. As I say, its a large part of what led us all into this financial calamity in the first place, and its STILL going on.

 

[beorhthelm]

it might seem that the bankers lead to the financial situation, but thats only half the story. they've been working like this and paying the bonuses for decades. the real problem was little oversight and regulation. The US stripped out a whole bunch of rules to do with banking regulation and that set us on this path. they did the business in this country due to even lighter regulation and better tax (we're seen as a tax haven strangly). at the time noone would reign it in, even though many experts held the belief it would go pear shaped (and it was obvious to a layman it was a bubble), too many decision makers believed their own hype - they where doing such wonders with the economy, it was a new pardigm, no more busts. should have read history.

 

[countrygull]

Frankly the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland could not have failed to have made a bumper profit in the last year, when the stock market has risen some 30%. Barclays didn't take Government money so where's the problem. Good news for shareholders.

 

[Don Quixote]

I thought Barclays just like our other big bank not in trouble HSBC had most of their holdings in poor parts of the world and exploited them which is why they weren't affected by the subprime mortgage thing.

 

[beorhthelm]

I thought Barclays just like our other big bank not in trouble HSBC had most of their holdings in poor parts of the world and exploited them which is why they weren't affected by the subprime mortgage thing.

maybe thats how someone has tried to present it, to put a negative spin on things. its actually the otherway round, Halifax (now Lloyds) and RBS had been heavily into the sub-prime market. Barclays make most their money on the investment side on general asset managemnt and trading, HSBC is really a Chinese/Asian bank that happens to be HQd in London. Halifax wanted to be the biggest dick in the mortgage business while RBS was run like a retailer competing to be biggest dick too and had an expensive merger with ABN AMRO, so got hit on two fronts.

 

[Common as Mook]

The ABN AMRO deal was the crux.

The two closest in terms of customer base were RBS and Barclays. Barclays initiated the bidding war for ABM which RBS then duly won. John Varley and Fred Goodwin could very well have had a very different couple of years!

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Banks shunning small firms - papers
IFAonline| 16 Feb 2010 | 08:45
Author: Laura Miller
Categories: Economics / Markets
Tags:Uk| Uk government

Bosses are being forced to make business loans on their credit cards because bankers are still refusing to lend them money.
Six out of 10 firms were turned down for bank loans last year, according to a survey by the Institute of Directors (IoD), the Daily Mail reports.

AdvertisementThe cut off of credit is despite assurances by Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling banks would be forced to start lending again following a £850bn Government stimulus package.

IoD director general Miles Templeman says: 'The fact more than half of all businesses seeking finance last year were turned away by their banks is totally incompatible with the banking sector's position on the state of lending in the UK.

'What is even more concerning is that having been rejected, 83% of businesses are not receiving information about alternatives available to them, including the Government's Enterprise Finance Guarantee.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Vince Cable not quite so gushing in praise for the banks as the concensus on NSC it would appear.

Cable admonishes banks over SME lending issues

Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable has called on banks to make good on their previously stated commitments to increase lending.

This follows publication of data from the Institute of Directors which shows that nearly 60% of businesses seeking bank finance in 2009/10 were rejected by their bank, and that 20% are financing their businesses to some extent with credit cards.

Cable (pictured) said: "There is a huge gap between what the banks tell us and the experience of companies on the ground. This evidence confirms that large numbers of small and medium sized businesses are still having difficulty in getting credit on reasonable terms.

"The nationalised and semi nationalised banks owe their existence to us, the taxpayer and they must make good on their commitments to increase lending at reasonable rates.

"Instead of paying themselves large bonuses, the money should instead be used to strengthen balance sheets and to provide commercial lending to sound and solvent British companies who have a vital role to play in our economic recovery."