Barclays : UK banks say ready to lend more after capital requirements cut
July 05, 2016 at 10:40 am EDT
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LONDON (Reuters) - Some of Britain's biggest financial institutions said they were ready to lend more after a decision by the Bank of England to cut their capital requirements, according to a joint statement with finance minister George Osborne on Tuesday.
The Bank of England, which is trying to ease the hit to the economy from last month's vote to leave the European Union, said it would lower the amount of capital banks are required to hold in reserve, potentially freeing up an extra 150 billion pounds ($196 billion) for lending.
"Now the UK's main lenders, meeting with the Chancellor this morning, have agreed to make the extra capital available to support lending to UK businesses and households in this challenging time," the lenders and Osborne said.
Barclays PLC is one of Britain's leading banking groups. The activity is organized around three sectors:
- commercial banking: at the end of 2023, owned 306 branches worldwide;
- financing, investment, and market banking: specialized financing (acquisitions, projects, etc.), portfolio management, transactions on the stock, interest, exchange, and raw material markets, stock trading, merger-acquisition consulting, investment capital, etc.;
- credit cards issuing.
At the end of 2023, the group managed GBP 538.8 billion in current deposits and GBP 399.5 billion in current credits.
Income breaks down geographically as follows: the United Kingdom (52.4%), Europe (9.9%), Americas (32%), Asia (5.4%), Africa and Middle East (0.3%).
BARCLAYS PLC 
