| Barclays looks to offload assets |
|
| Written by Gary Howes |
| Monday, 12 October 2009 08:42 |
|
Barclays shares are down this morning after a sale of assets, with a view of streamlining the bank, are announced. Barclays (LON:BARC) is down 0.29% on the FTSE 100 this morning after news that the bank will offload some of its assets. The Economy News understands that Barclays is likely to spin off a £4bn portfolio of complex credit assets in a clean up of its balance sheet. It is speculated by the FT that the move is also part of a bid to ease shareholder concerns over its investments. The bank is looking at a deal to shift up to £4bn of the assets off its balance sheet in an echo of a similar transaction it undertook last month with a £12.3bn portfolio. The last deal grabbed the headlines after it resulted in a team of 45 Barclays staff, led by Stephen King, head of principal mortgage trading, leaving the bank. Meanwhile, in related news, spectacular profits and punishing losses will affect sharply the share prices of the big banks on Wall Street when they report their third-quarter figures this week. Lenders with strong share-trading businesses are expected to shine and those burdened by bad consumer and commercial loans will suffer, in what analysts term the “bifurcation” of the banking sector in the United States, the Times reports. 
|
| Last Updated ( Monday, 12 October 2009 12:54 ) |